Rainbow Family Gathering looking for a new campsite in California

The Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering, an annual counterculture event that was forced to abandon its tent camp in a national forest in Northern California, is still searching for an alternative meeting place.

As of June 29, Rainbow Family participants began moving to a new site in the Beckwourth Ranger District of the Plumas National Forest, located about 12 miles north of Beckwourth, California. According to a U.S. Forest Service report of an unauthorized group use incident, an estimated 430 people were camping at the new site as of June 30.

“The Forest Service is currently negotiating with the Rainbow Family of Living Light to apply for a special non-commercial group use permit,” the report continues. “Until a special non-commercial group use permit is signed, the gathering is considered unapproved.”

Forced to leave the country for the first time

The Rainbow Family meeting has been taking place annually since 1972 at various locations across the country.

Over the years, the event has attracted as many as 20,000 visitors, and the U.S. Forest Service estimated in June that this year's event could draw as many as 10,000 people to Plumas National Forest. While many visitors try to minimize their impact on public lands, the sheer number of attendees — as well as the gathering's refusal to obtain the necessary permits to use that public land — has often brought the event into conflict with police and local government over sanitation, drug use, and damage to forest lands.

Previous gatherings have resulted in only numerous tickets from the US Forest Service, but this year's gathering in California's Plumas National Forest drew the ire of local authorities. A Lassen County supervisor expressed concerns “about the illegality, the increased fire risk it creates, the environmental impacts and the blatant disrespect for our local tribes.”

On June 30, a representative of the Rainbow Family contacted USA TODAY and said they would be “gathering on the Fourth of July at a location where thousands of people would pray for peace.^th near the Beckwourth Ranger Station.”

The U.S. Forest Service confirmed to USA TODAY on July 1 that it was still in talks with the group to issue a building permit for the event.

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Rainbow Family Gathering looking for a new campsite in California

Anna Harden

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