The Plumas County community spoke up at the July 2 Plumas County Board of Supervisors meeting with a message to the U.S. Forest Service and the supervisors: Stop the Rainbow Family gathering.
The Rainbow Family of Living Light and Love has been amassing on the Plumas National Forest for several weeks in preparation for their annual gathering, which traditionally takes place on public lands in the first week of July. So far this year, the group has relocated twice due to community pushback and USFS restrictions.
Members of the Mountain Maidu tribe were particularly passionate during the July 2 discussion. Commenters objected strongly to potential damage to natural and cultural resources posed by thousands of Rainbow Family members camping on Maidu ancestral lands, which include the Plumas National Forest.
“Tribes are ready to take action.”
Trina Cunningham, Mountain Maidu tribal member
“Tribes are ready to take action,” said Trina Cunningham, an active member of the Maidu tribal community.
She and others — in person and on Zoom — appealed to Plumas County supervisors to urge Forest Service officials to enforce federal regulations to protect the forest environment. Forest and road closures, designed to limit access to areas of significant cultural and ecological value, are not being enforced, several speakers said.
Plumas Forest Supervisor Chris Carlton attended the July 2 meeting with two law enforcement officers to update the county supervisors on the Rainbow Family gathering. Because the issue was posted on the agenda as information from the agency, the supervisors could take no action.
Gathering moves from Antelope to Beckwourth site
Concern among local residents has been building since June 17, when the Rainbow Family relocated its annual July 4 gathering from the Modoc National Forest to Antelope Lake, on the Plumas National Forest. Since then the loosely knit group of around 50,000 has moved again, this time to an area about 12 miles north of Beckwourth, which firefighters have recently used as a fire camp.
Forest Service officials are monitoring both sites, said Carlton. Rainbow campers at the Antelope Lake site peaked at 561 people, he told the Plumas supervisors. By July 2 there were 42 people left, he said. Forest Service officials were helping them gather their belongings and depart.
“The more we can get them out of there the better,” Carlton said.
The Rainbow Family began leaving their camp about 5 miles north of Antelope Lake after Carlton issued a June 26 order closing a section of the Mt. Hough Ranger District that includes the Indian Creek headwaters north of Antelope Lake. The Maidu Summit Consortium was among the Native American and environmental groups calling for the closure, which required attendees to either leave the area or risk being charged with trespassing.
The new Rainbow Family gathering site, near “four corners” on the Beckwourth District of the Plumas National Forest, had 830 people camping on July 2, Carlton said. The peak time for Rainbow Family arrivals is “right now,” he told the supervisors.
“I don’t expect the large numbers we’ve seen elsewhere,” Carlton told the supervisors. Recent Rainbow gatherings in Georgia and Wisconsin have drawn as many as 8,000 people, he said.
But the numbers will likely grow with the approach of July 4.
Community raises its voice
For the public, the focus was clearly on stopping the gathering. Several speakers on Zoom, who did not identify themselves, called on the Forest Service to protect the environment, including Native American cultural sites and grazing rights. That is the agency’s mandate, several said.
Cunningham cited the Rainbow Family’s 52-year history of camping on national forest land annually around the Fourth of July holiday. “This is something that happens somewhere every year in the United States. It’s not going to go away unless we do something,” she said.
The Forest Service requires permits for all encampments involving 75 or more people. In the past, the Rainbow Family has refused to file permit requests, claiming it has no leaders and therefore no one to sign on behalf of the group. The last time the group obtained a Forest Service permit was in 2004, Carlton said.
“Why not close this site, too?”
Jeff Engel, Plumas County supervisor
The decision to close a portion of the forest entirely was unusual, Carlton said. It required the approval of both the U.S. Forest Service regional office and the Washington office. It has never been done before.
Plumas County Supervisor Jeff Engel suggested the agency repeat the action at the Beckwourth site. “Why not close this site, too? It’s like chasing grasshoppers from one field to another,” he said.
Cunningham also called for equally strong enforcement at the Rainbow Family’s new site near Beckwourth. This is the homeland of the Mountain Maidu, she said. During a century of genocide, when “we were hunted down,” families retreated to the ravines of Red Clover Valley and nearby locations above Beckwourth. They set up villages where they lived and buried their dead.
Until recently, Maidu tribal members had little say in management of these ancestral lands, Cunningham said. Their voice has grown stronger in recent years.
“It means everything to us — just being able to connect to these places and connect our children to them. To say, ‘It’s OK to be Maidu,’” said Cunningham.
She expressed particular concern for protecting grave sites. The ground disturbance caused by the trench latrines Rainbow Family members have dug in previous encampments have unearthed bones and artifacts. Protection of sacred sites and cemeteries was embraced by the Maidu Summit Consortium as one of its founding principles.
Forest Service response sets ‘precedent’
Cunningham was one of several speakers who cited the precedent the Forest Service is setting by allowing the Rainbow Family to camp without the permits required by the agency. “If they are doing it, why should the rest of us follow the law?” Cunningham said.
The Plumas response to the Rainbow Family has been much more aggressive than previous agency reactions, Carlton said, attributing the relocation from Antelope to Beckwourth to actions taken by the agency. Over 1,000 law enforcement officers are patrolling the Beckwourth site, where the Forest Service has stationed 28 engines for fire protection and has firefighting aircraft available in the region.
The Forest Service is restricting vehicle speeds to 15 miles an hour on Forest Service Road 28N01 between its intersections with roads 26N70 and 25N31. It has identified “no entry” areas to protect permitted stock grazing, endangered plants and tribally significant areas, Carlton said. It is also monitoring trespassing on private property in the area.
No wood fires are allowed; all cooking must be done with propane stoves. No water is available at the site the Rainbow Family chose for its encampment. “They have to figure that out by themselves,” he said.
Plumas County Supervisor Dwight Ceresola, who lives in Beckwourth, called the area “well controlled” with active patrols and enforcement.
The Rainbow Family did not respond to requests for comment by The Plumas Sun. Posts on its primary Facebook page indicate some dissension within the group over the current encampment. Carlton referred to internal “confusion” that could contribute to the reduced numbers he has reported so far.
As Rainbow Family campers leave the Antelope site, the Forest Service will gradually “shrink” the area closed to all public entry in the June 26 order, he said.
Forest orders and accompanying maps are available on the Plumas National Forest website. More information about the Forest Service response to the Rainbow gathering is here.
