SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of
Parks and Recreation announce the temporary closure of Birdsall Road to the
Birdsall River Access in the China Bar Area of the Auburn State Recreation
Area. The road is currently closed, until further notice, due to a
landslide that occurred there during high river flows in January 2017.
The road was opened in 2008 after the closure of a tunnel diversion that
had been built for the initial construction work on Auburn Dam. The tunnel
closure had re-opened the river to navigation through this reach.
The road to the Birdsall River Access will be closed from the China Bar
Road at Oregon Hill downhill to the river at Birdsall River Access. The
closure is indicated in red on the map included. Other trails, and the
parking and restroom at Oregon Hill, will remain open to the public. The
China Bar Road from Maidu Drive in Auburn is open to vehicles on weekends
and holidays from April to September, and open to hiking, biking and horse
riding all year.
The Birdsall River Access followed road alignments formerly used by dam
construction equipment in the canyon below the City of Auburn. The route
also served as the western portion of the Auburn-Cool Trail until the river
was re-diverted from the tunnel and restored to its bed as part of the pump
station project. This portion of the Auburn-Cool Trail will also be closed
during the road repair.
Until further notice, recreational boaters in this reach of the North Fork
American River are advised to use other access points near Auburn,
including the confluence area upstream, the take-out at Oregon Bar
downstream, or to continue downstream to Folsom Lake and take-out at
Rattlesnake Bar when water levels in the lake are favorable.
Other popular trails that remain open in the area include the entire
Cardiac Bypass Trail.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
