River Monitoring Program

History

On April 9, 1974 the County of Placer Board of Supervisors adopted Placer County Code, 1967, Chapter 5, Article VII, Relating to Rafting Regulations.   The Board found that it is “…both reasonable and proper to require that any business utilizing public resources for private benefit should take such steps as are reasonable and appropriate to protect those valuable and natural resources…” Placer County began regulating commercial rafting in 1977. 

Placer County Planning Commission reviews and approves the rafting permits/conditional use permits (CUP) for Mountain Air Sports (MAS) and Tahoe Sierra Recreation (TSR), (formerly known as Truckee River Rafting) commercial river-rafting companies.  Placer County Environmental Health assists the Planning Department and the USDA Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to ensure that the conditions of the permit are achieved. 

The Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Placer County and the U.S. Forest Service, on May 7, 2002.  Both MAS and TSR are responsible for their participation in the execution of the MOU.

The position of River Monitor (RM) was created as a mitigation measure of the permits Placer County issued to MAS and TSR to conduct their raft rental businesses.  The responsibilities of the RM are to assure compliance of the rafting companies with their CUP, MOU and the Placer County Code.

Purpose

The summer of 2006 was the tenth year of the Truckee River Monitor Program supervised by Placer County Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Environmental Health. 

The River Monitor Program is designed to monitor both commercial and private rafting and the condition of the riparian zone along the Truckee River. Commercial (rental) and private (self-outfitted) rafters float a 3.5-mile section of the River that starts near Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City and ends at River Ranch, just upstream of Alpine Meadows Road. TSR and MAS are the permitted commercial rafting businesses operating this section. In addition to the commercial rental rafters, thousands of private, self-outfitted rafters also float the River each year. Although the Placer County Code and raft company CUPs regulate commercial rental operations on the River, Placer County does not regulate private users.