Bear PARC
Bear Protection And Restoration Collaborative
A Brief Introduction
The Bear River has historically been the most traveled, utilized and industrialized river in the Sierra Nevada. Today, one little section at a time, the Bear is being transformed yet again.
- The Bear River watershed was the first to catch the European wave of immigrants to California. Just below Donner Pass, the gentle Bear Valley gave passage to the first wave of settlers on the Emigrant Trail. Later on, the transcontinental railroad wound its way on the ridge above the Bear, as does the busy Union Pacific line today.
- Old Hwy 40 started the first stream of cars, I-80 turned the stream into a river of traffic.
- Hydraulic gold mining started on the Bear River and washed more soils into the valley and Delta, proportionately, than any other river in the Sierra Nevada.
- The first hydroelectric generating systems were built on the Bear. One of the first long distance telephone lines in the country was strung in Dutch Flat to serve mining operations.
- Miners needed wood for construction and fuel. Dozens of miles of logging railroads were built to serve their needs in the Bear watershed.
- Eventually, a lawsuit by valley farmers ended hydraulic mining and the flooding that it had caused.
- The vast network of canals and waterways that were constructed to bring the river to the mines was extended to support agriculture throughout the foothills.
- By the late 19th century, Bear River water diversions irrigated extensive orchards.
- By 1900 the farming market shifted from the foothills to the valley, where warmer weather gave valley growers the early-market sales.
- Around the Bear in the 1950s and ’60s, timber harvest was in full swing, supplying California’s post-war growth. By the 1970s, timber harvest was in decline.
- Tourism soon became the economic engine and the older sections of regional towns were restored to lure more visitors.
- Entering this century, growth became the main economic engine for the region. People live near the Bear River because they love this place. And the river is again becoming a significant theme in people’s lives.
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BearPARC encourages community dialogue to explore the most beneficial next steps to achieve common goals that embrace our highest community interests and values. Let’s fall in love with this stretch of the river, and work together to fashion its future.
Management of the land should support community needs, our values and long range sustainability, with emphasis on:
- Green Space that enriches riparian and forest health improving our quality of life,
- Fire ecosystem management to protect our communities from wildfire,,
- Fisheries and wildlife habitat to protect our diverse environment,
- Watershed ecological education uplifting our appreciation of where we live,
- Scenic and recreational management that enrich our highest and best social, economic and environmental values.
- Honoring the Nisenan heritage of fire ecosystem management and support integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Our lives and our communities will prosper built on those principles.
