National Park Service U.S.  Department of the Interior  Whiskeytown National  Recreation Area

P.O. Box 188  Whiskeytown, CA 96095 530-242-3400 phone   530-246-5154 fax

 

Date : June 29, 2005

For Immediate Release

Jim Milestone (530) 242-3460

Whiskeytown’s Shasta –Trinity Trail Project Environmental Assessment Opened for Public Review

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area has completed the draft Environmental  Assessment for the Shasta-Trinity Trail that is being proposed for construction through the recreation area. This 30 day public review will allow the public an opportunity to review the environmental assessment and provide the National Park Service with comments. The public review period ends on Friday, July 29, 2005.

The Shasta-Trinity Trail would link the City of Redding with a regional trail system connecting it to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and on to the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. The concept was first developed in the late 1990s and approved in December 2000, by a variety of local interests groups and communities ranging from the City of Redding to community groups in French Gulch and Weaverville. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management made significant contributions to the plan’s development, while the National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program served as the lead sponsor. This draft environmental assessment only discusses the trail segment within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. This trail would accommodate hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers (non-motorized use only).  This environmental assessment uses information gathered over the last two years from public scoping meetings held in Old Shasta and at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. It reflects the best information local residents and park staff had about connecting a trail through the mountains of Whiskeytown. The Environmental Assessment proposes three alternatives for completing the trail project.

1. The first alternative is a no-action alternative. In this proposal, only existing trails and roads would be signed as a designated route through the park.
2. The second alternative proposes to use existing trails, but no existing roads through the park which would require constructing at least three new trails segments through the park’s forest.
3. The third alternative is similar to the second alternative where the new “Shasta-Trinity Trail” would be constructed through the park using both existing trails and at least three new trail segments through the  park’s higher elevation forest. Additionally, alternative three recommends the construction of spur trails to waterfalls, vista’s and special scenic areas that are not currently well known by the general public.

In 2004, the Bureau of Land Management, in conjunction with the National Park Service, constructed a trail from Swasey Blvd. to Mule Town Road in Whiskeytown. The California Conservation Corps and volunteers from the Redding Mountain Bike Club and the Trails and Bikeways Council completed the trail project. This segment of new trail connecting Redding’s Westside| Trail with Whiskeytown was covered under a separate environmental assessment drafted and approved in 2004.

Copies of the Environmental Assessment are available at Park Headquarters on Kennedy Memorial Drive or on the park’s web site at http://www.nps.gov/whis/exp/plandocs/Shasta_Trinity_Trail_EA.pdf.

Copies of the document will also be on hand at the Shasta County Library in Redding.

Please mail comments to:

Office of the Superintendent

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

P.O. Box 188

Whiskeytown, CA 96095

Or email Jim_Milestone@nps.gov.

If members of the public would like to speak directly to Superintendent Milestone about the Shasta-Trinity Trail Project or other aspects related to the management of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, please feel free to call 530-242-3460, M-F  9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

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