Placer County is a world-wide destination for outdoor recreation, with a variety of outdoor recreational areas to utilize, including but not limited to:
With tobacco being the number one piece of litter found in recreational areas, the Placer County Tobacco Prevention Program wants to help jurisdictions implement smoke-free recreational areas to protect the residents and outdoor areas of our County.
As of 2016, five jurisdictions in Placer County (Auburn, Lincoln, Loomis, Rocklin, and Roseville) passed smoke-free recreation policies. Approximately 128 parks in the county are now smoke-free, which means 74% of Placer County parks protect visitors from exposure to secondhand smoke and tobacco litter. Click to see a map of smoke-free recreational areas in Placer County.
However, about one-third of the parks, playgrounds, campgrounds, and beaches in the county are still not smoke-free. Colfax and unincorporated Placer County, which includes North Lake Tahoe, do not have smoke-free recreational areas. All of Placer County is a world-wide destination for outdoor recreation, with North Lake Tahoe alone receiving 3 million visitors per year. Smoke-free policies for recreational areas can serve as a tool in not only protecting the region so that tourism can robustly continue, but can also protect visitors and year-round residents from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke and tobacco litter. In fact, the State of California enacted smoke-free state parks and beaches in January 2020 with this in mind.
To learn more about implementing smoke-free policies for a recreational area, please contact the Placer County Tobacco Control Program at 530-886-3629.