Winter's Over, Get Back to the
Canyon!
Join NFARA for its fourth
annual kick-off to spring event on May 5, 7 p.m. at the Dutch Flat Community
Center, 933 Stockton Street. This year's presentation by Mike Lynch will be a
wonderful slideshow, Mountain Quarries Railroad - 100 Years. 2012 marks the 100 Year Anniversary of opening of the Mt. Quarries Railroad (MQRR). This seven
mile long standard guage railroad ran from the Mt. Quarries Co. limestone mine
on the Middle Fork to the Southern Pacific RRline at what was then called Flint
Station in Auburn. The MQRR had seventeen wooden train trestles and
the now famous arched concrete MQRR Bridge. The railroad operated from
1912 to 1941. Today the MQRR Bridge is an icon
in the American River Canyon.
Mike Lynch is Park
Superintendent for the Auburn State Recreation Area and local historian. He has
made hundreds of presentations on local history over the last three
decades and has written or
co-authored six books. His new book, due out in
May, American River Canyon is a pictorial
history of the North and Middle Forks American River. In addition to this informative
presentation, NFARA board members will give updates on current
projects and recent successes. The event is free and open to the public.
We'll also have free refreshments. This is a great opportunity to learn
about NFARA, meet board members and discover more about the area's spectacular
natural resources. There will plenty of time for questions and answers, and for
socializing around the dessert table.
Suction Dredge Mining
NFARA has
joined a
coalition of groups (including tribal governments and conservation
organizations) in a lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Game
(DFG) over the recently released Suction Dredge Mining (SDM regulations DFG issued
new regulations for suction dredge mining in California on March 16, 2012.
These regulations stem from a year-long rule-making process and were adopted
just one day before the rule-making process either needed to be completed or
started over again.
NFARA took a leading role last
Spring in opposing proposed regulations because they would open the previously
closed NF American Wild and Scenic River to such mining. In addition, the new
regulations failed to ensure that mining does not harm water quality and human
health with sediment and mercury.
New legislation, AB 120, was passed in July 2011. AB 120
set out the requirement that all adverse impacts from SDM be fully mitigated and
that DFG establish a fee structure that fully pays for the cost of the program.
The recently released regulations do not meet AB 120 requirements and they
continue to allow suction dredge mining on the Wild and Scenic North
Fork.
NFARA does not take litigation lightly, but we feel
that it is the only way to protect our river from this inappropriate and
destructive activity.
Cable Across Giant Gap
In early February, one of our
members reported that a cable had been strung across the North Fork American
River at Giant Gap for the purposes of parachuting into the canyon. This is an
extension of BASE jumping. The person slides down the cable out to middle of
canyon, detaches and floats down. At Giant Gap it is about 2000 feet down. This
follows several weeks of people jumping off the canyon rim.
The BLM was
notified; this was done without permits. In addition to being an inappropriate
activity in the Wild and Scenic River corridor, it was extremely dangerous for
aircraft in the canyon. It was discovered that Squaw Valley daredevil Mike
Wilson, with the aid of a helicopter, had strung the cable
from Lovers Leap to the wall on the Foresthill side
of the canyon. The cable has been removed. The BLM and Tahoe National Forest both have and are
considering possible legal acting against Wilson.
Trail
Projects
NFARA organizes volunteer outings to clean up and
maintain area trails. In 2011, we conducted 4 outings into the North
Fork. In April, volunteers cleared trees from the Euchre Bar Trail. In
June, we cleared brush from several BLM trails in the Gold Run Diggings. A group
worked on the Cherry Point Trail, near Loch Leven Lakes, in August. For the
Sierra Nevada Conservancy's Great Sierra River Cleanup in September, we cleaned
up a large trash site along the Stevens Trail.
Outings for 2012 are being
planned and announcements will be
sent.
Updated
9/15/14
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