SUSANVILLE, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management has announced opening of the North Eagle Lake and Pit River campgrounds and the Hobo Camp Day Use area in northeast California for the warm weather recreation season. The campgrounds open Wednesday, May 1; Hobo Camp opens Wednesday, May 17.

The North Eagle Lake Campground northwest of Susanville has 20 developed campsites available on a first-come, first-served basis. The campground has potable water and sites that can accommodate RVs up to 35 feet long. The fee is $8 per night. A camp host is on site.

Also at the north shore of Eagle Lake, the BLM offers Eagle Lake shoreline camping at the undeveloped Rocky Point East and Rocky Point West areas. There are no facilities or services, and the sites are best for fully self-contained camping. There are no fees, but donations are accepted. The sites are open all year, weather permitting. There are information boards and vault toilets at Rocky Point East.

The Pit River Campground, near the community of Fall River Mills in eastern Shasta County, offers eight campsites, a group campsite, a kayak launch facility and a fishing pier for those with disabilities. The fee is $8 nightly and $12 per night for the group campsite. A camp host is on site.

At Hobo Camp, the main vehicle gate off South Street on Hobo Camp Road at the west edge of Susanville will be open daily from 8 a.m. to a half-hour after sunset through the season. Exceptions are Saturday, May 17, and Saturday, May 24, when the gate will open at 5 a.m. to allow early fishing access for the Lassen County Junior Fishing Derby and for the opening day of the California stream fishing season, respectively.

Hobo Camp is also accessible to walkers, bicyclists and horseback riders using the Bizz Johnson Trail from the Susanville Railroad Depot Visitor Center and trailheads on Lassen Street and Miller Road in Susanville. It offers picnic tables, grilling grates and fire rings, open space for outdoor games, toilets and parking areas in a pine grove setting. There is parking for large vehicles and trailers, including horse trailers. A host is on site. There are no fees.

REDDING, Calif. — With summer camping season just around the corner, the Bureau of Land Management will open Trinity River campgrounds along California State Highway 299, on Monday, May 5. Camp sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with campers depositing fees in campground collection boxes. The maximum stay is 14 days.

This year, reservations are available through Recreation.gov for half of the Douglas City Campground sites.

“These are beautiful spots to access the Trinity River for fishing, boating, swimming and other water sports,” said Jennifer Mata, manager of the BLM Redding Field Office. “Camping along the Trinity River is a great way for families to connect with nature and learn about the natural wonders to be found on our public lands.”

The Douglas City Campground, just west of Douglas City, offers 23 tent and trailer campsites and a riverbank beach. The site offers flush toilets, showers, and drinking water as well as picnic tables and campfire rings. The fee is $20 per site, per night, for a maximum of two vehicles, and $6 per night per vehicle for additional vehicles as space allows. Reservations for sites 9-19 are available on Recreation.gov.

The Junction City Campground, west of Junction City, offers 21 tent and trailer sites. It is a convenient site for travelers on State Route 299 between Redding and the coast. The smaller Steel Bridge Campground, about six miles east of Douglas City, has 11 camping sites and feels more secluded. Both campgrounds have vault toilets, and each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. There is no drinking water available at either site. The fee is $15 per site, per night, for a maximum of two vehicles and $6 per night per vehicle for additional vehicles.

Shasta campground, 7 miles northwest of the city of Shasta Lake, offers great access to the Chappie-Shasta Off-Highway Vehicle area in a beautiful setting along Keswick Reservoir. There are 27 tent and trailer campsites, vault toilets, drinking water, picnic tables and campfire rings. The fee is $20 per site, per night, for a maximum of two vehicles and $6 per night per vehicle for additional vehicles.

Details, including maximum trailer length for each campground, are available by telephoning the Redding Field Office, 530-224-2100, or by visiting online.

REDDING, Calif.— The Bureau of Land Management has lifted an emergency closure order on public roads, trails and facilities in the Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural Area north of Red Bluff, as dangers from the Park Fire have been reduced.

The BLM has also issued a temporary restriction on target shooting in the Spring Branch area of the Bend, citing ongoing region-wide high fire danger. The order will be rescinded when fire dangers ease.

“Fire crews have done outstanding work completing containment lines on the west side of the fire that threatened the Bend Area, and we feel the closure can be lifted,” said Jennifer Mata, manager of the BLM Redding Field Office. “However, ongoing extreme fire dangers and depleted fire fighting resources in the Bend Area dictate the need for the target shooting closure. We also ask people to remember that seasonal fire restrictions are in place.”

The outstanding natural area stretches includes river frontage and oak woodlands stretching from the Jelly’s Ferry area north of Red Bluff to the Anderson Area.
 

REDDING, Calif.— Volunteers are welcome to help the Bureau of Land Management and River Partners plant more than 30,000 trees along Battle Creek south of Anderson, kicking off a project to restore 150 acres of habitat critical for fish and other wildlife. The project is set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 11 and 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, at 3770 Gover Road, Anderson.

Anyone interested in helping should meet at the Gover Road site.  They should wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, bring lunches and water, and bring hand trowels, if possible.

Work will take place in an area known as Rancho Breisgau, where a walnut orchard has been removed, setting the stage for restoration of streamside habitat that will benefit four runs of Chinook salmon and steelhead, reduce habitat fragmentation, and support the recovery of critically endangered wildlife species.

“We only have around five percent of riparian habitat left in the Sacramento Valley. Many species of plants and animals rely on this habitat to survive,” said Brooke Thompson, an ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management Redding Field Office. “In a time when the climate is becoming hotter and drier, it’s important to have connectivity corridors where wildlife can move through the valley and have refugia, places where they can survive during unfavorable conditions.”

The 306-acre Rancho Breisgau Unit is part of the BLM’s Sacramento River Bend Area of Critical Environmental Concern, managed by the Redding Field Office.  It is one of the last remaining parcels where restoration is needed to connect a major wildlife corridor of continuous riparian habitat stretching from the Sacramento River up to the headwaters of Battle Creek in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Details on the project and its importance are available from River Partners.  The organization website also has a directional map to the project site.

Participants should complete a liability waiver form and bring it with them to the project site. Forms will also be available onsite.

The Rancho Breisgau project is supported and funded by the California Wildlife Conservation Board, Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, Tehama County, and California State University, Chico.