Amid community resistance to the unlicensed Rainbow Family gathering near Susanville, the U.S. Forest Service issued an order barring anyone from entering an area that includes that group’s campsite.
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The order stipulates a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine for anyone in the Indian Creek Headwaters closure area in the Plumas National Forest from June 26 to July 15. It cites concern for public safety and natural resources.
The Rainbow Family, a loose-knit countercultural group, on June 17 announced the site for its annual gathering in the first week of July, and the first of what were expected to be up to 10,000 participants began arriving there shortly afterward.
The Forest Service brought in an incident management team and sent patrols on walk-throughs as the site was being set up by about 500 Rainbow Family members, the agency’s employees said during a public meeting on Tuesday, June 25.
The group did not apply for the special use permit required for any event with more than 75 people, said the Forest Service, which referred to the gathering as “an unauthorized noncommercial group use incident.”
At Tuesday’s public meeting, some participants reiterated concerns that had been circulating in Plumas and Lassen counties since the announcement — about fire hazards, damage to natural and cultural resources, and crime because of the large influx of people to the rural area.
The following day, the Forest Service issued the closure order.
A blog for Rainbow Family members acknowledged the order and said “next steps” were being determined. As of Friday morning, no new site had been announced there.
Since 1972, the Rainbow Family of Living Light has converged each summer on undeveloped public land for what the blog described as “a non-commercial backcountry camping experience where we practice how to live in peace.”
More than 10,000 people attended the 2022 gathering, in Colorado; last year, in New Mexico, there were about 3,000.
