Plumas-Eureka State Park, located in the Sierra near Graeagle, will be partially closed this summer to allow for a cleanup of hazardous materials. Parts of the park will remain open, but the campground, museum area, and other selected sites throughout the park will temporarily be closed for clean-up.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has initiated a remediation effort to remove toxic materials, a legacy left behind from the days when the site was a working gold mine. Soils within certain areas of the park were found to be contaminated with arsenic, lead and mercury at actionable levels above federal standards.

The work will begin immediately after the spring thaw and will likely proceed into the fall. Should the work proceed without unforeseen problems and be completed sooner, State Parks will reopen portions of the park as soon as possible. The campground will be the first site treated, in an effort to allow camping to resume as soon as possible.

Plumas-Eureka State Park is the site of a historic hard-rock gold mining operation and was a major producer of gold in the late 1800s. State Parks acquired the site as a park in 1959, inheriting 4,000 acres of a high Sierra forested watershed, but also a legacy of historic mine tailings left from the milling process.

Visitors holding reservations will be contacted by Reserve America’s Customer Service to transfer their reservation to another date or another park, pending availability. If your reservation cannot be transferred, it will be canceled and a full refund issued.