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Supervisor Briggs recommending Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign a letter to the State Office of Historic Preservation indicating that the County of El Dorado does not support, and will therefore not seek to initiate or pursue the process to nominate the Rubicon Trail to be included in the National Register of Historic Places.
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On March 4, 2014, the Board of Supervisors received a presentation on the U.S. Forest Service's study, "National Register of Historic Places Evaluation for the Rubicon Trail, Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, California" that concluded that the Rubicon Trail is potentially eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The presentation included information on the general process to nominate historic properties to the National Register of Historic Places.
After the presentation, the Board provided the following direction to staff:
1) Interact with all property owners of the Rubicon Trail and others who may be affected; and
2) Report back to the Board of Supervisors with a progress report in 90 days (June 2014).
County staff researched the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the U.S. Forest Service Study, the relevant Code of Federal Regulations and information related to the nomination process and designation of eligible properties to the National Register. The Staff Memo detailing the results of this research is attached.
Staff conducted two public meetings and presented the information obtained per this research. Representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, State Parks, the Rubicon Trail Foundation, Friends of the Rubicon as well as property owners and individual trial users were in attendance. Comments submitted at the two public meetings as well as directly to the County do not support the inclusion of the Rubicon Trail in the National Register of Historic Places.
Supervisor Briggs recommends that the Board authorize the Chairman to sign a letter to the State Office of Historic Preservation indicating that the County of El Dorado does not support and will not seek or initiate or participate in a process to nominate the Rubicon Trail for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.