Yuba supes receive report on goldfields' future
MARYSVILLE (3/18/03) -- Two Yuba County supervisors expressed some misgivings Tuesday when told the U.S. Bureau of Land Management might take over acreage in the goldfields now held by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
The BLM would add more than 2,500 acres of Corps lands to the lands it already, BLM Field Manager Dean Swickard wrote in a Feb. 14 letter.
Some of the lands could wind up part of a proposed parkway along the Yuba River.
"The BLM intends to restore about 1,000 acres of public land to a landscape that will provide improved fish and wildlife habitat and allow substantial recreational use of the restored lands. If the (Corps) holdings are transferred to the BLM … the restoration would eventually involve about 3,500 acres," Swickard said.
The goldfields, the proposed parkway, but most of all a road to get to the river have been a long-running issue in Yuba County.
Mining companies wishing to extract aggregates from the area appear to be willing to help pay for the park, the maintenance of "training walls" of land penning the Yuba River, as well as improving the controversial road, Swickard said.
"I'm sure the Corps would love to hand over the land,' said board chairman Don Schrader. But the BLM does not do flood control and that could be a problem for people in Linda and Olivehurst, Schrader warned.
There might also be as much as $10 million in grants available to the county for improvements to recreation opportunities in the area, Swickard indicated to the board.
Ten million dollars sounded like a lot of money, but past experiences in grantsmanship have taught him to be very cautious of counting such unhatched chickens, Supervisor Bill Simmons said.
Grants are an iffy proposition, Supervisor Mary Jane Griego admitted.
"It might not be $10 million. It might be more. Or it might be less," Griego said.
However, whatever the might be it would be more than the county is getting right now, "which is nothing," Griego said.
The board accepted the report on the ad hoc committee on the goldfields, but took no further action.
MARYSVILLE (3/18/03) -- Two Yuba County supervisors expressed some misgivings Tuesday when told the U.S. Bureau of Land Management might take over acreage in the goldfields now held by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
The BLM would add more than 2,500 acres of Corps lands to the lands it already, BLM Field Manager Dean Swickard wrote in a Feb. 14 letter.
Some of the lands could wind up part of a proposed parkway along the Yuba River.
"The BLM intends to restore about 1,000 acres of public land to a landscape that will provide improved fish and wildlife habitat and allow substantial recreational use of the restored lands. If the (Corps) holdings are transferred to the BLM … the restoration would eventually involve about 3,500 acres," Swickard said.
The goldfields, the proposed parkway, but most of all a road to get to the river have been a long-running issue in Yuba County.
Mining companies wishing to extract aggregates from the area appear to be willing to help pay for the park, the maintenance of "training walls" of land penning the Yuba River, as well as improving the controversial road, Swickard said.
"I'm sure the Corps would love to hand over the land,' said board chairman Don Schrader. But the BLM does not do flood control and that could be a problem for people in Linda and Olivehurst, Schrader warned.
There might also be as much as $10 million in grants available to the county for improvements to recreation opportunities in the area, Swickard indicated to the board.
Ten million dollars sounded like a lot of money, but past experiences in grantsmanship have taught him to be very cautious of counting such unhatched chickens, Supervisor Bill Simmons said.
Grants are an iffy proposition, Supervisor Mary Jane Griego admitted.
"It might not be $10 million. It might be more. Or it might be less," Griego said.
However, whatever the might be it would be more than the county is getting right now, "which is nothing," Griego said.
The board accepted the report on the ad hoc committee on the goldfields, but took no further action.
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