According to information released yesterday by the Plumas National Forest, an Unauthorized Noncommercial Group Use Incident, the Rainbow Family Gathering, will be occurring on the Forest’s Mount Hough Ranger District approximately five miles north of Antelope Lake in Plumas County.
“The incident peaks with the Fourth of July holiday, and participants are already arriving in the area,” explains Forest Service Public Information Officer Hilary Markin. “The highest concentration of visitors on the Forest for this event is expected during the first week of July.”
The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a loose-knit group of people from throughout the United States and other countries who gather annually on a national forest. Since the first gathering near Strawberry Lake on the Arapaho National Forest in Colorado in 1972, the incident has taken place on a different national forest each year.
The Forest Service warns that the incident is expected to draw around 10,000 visitors, although Rainbow organizers are telling local residents to expect 20,000.
“The USDA Forest Service has mobilized a national incident management team with experience managing these types of incidents. The team works closely with the local community, including law enforcement agencies, throughout the incident to protect the health and safety of everyone involved, and to lessen environmental impacts to the site by providing information and enforcing laws.”
“An incident of this size can have significant impacts on traffic, communities, local resources, residents, and visitors. Local businesses can expect to see large numbers of Rainbow Family participants visiting stores and buying food and supplies along routes to the incident location. Forest and local roads in the vicinity may become congested during the incident and road closures and/or traffic detours may occur.”
“Every year, the Plumas National Forest sees a large surge in visitors in late June and early July, enjoying not only summer recreation in the forest, but also numerous events in our communities around the July Fourth holiday,” said Plumas National Forest Supervisor Chris Carlton. “We understand the addition of the Rainbow Family Gathering on the Plumas National Forest raises concerns about additional impacts to our local communities, natural resources and environment and we will be working with the incident team to minimize adverse effects as much as possible.”
For more information about the Unauthorized Noncommercial Group Use Incident, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/rainbowgathering.
