SPI To Sell Yuba River Holdings

The state´s largest private landowner is selling 731-acres along the scenic South Yuba River that is being transferred to the state parks system.

The sale is drawing praise from environmental groups that had negotiated with Sierra Pacific Industries for two years.

The Trust for Public Land is buying the property for about $3.5 million and giving it to the state to expand South Yuba River State Park.

The trust also is buying 453-acres from other private landowners downstream at the Devil´s Slide area that together will go to expand the park by more than 1,100-acres.

Meanwhile, another coalition of environmental groups is criticizing Sierra Pacific´s plans to nearly clear-cut large swaths of its land elsewhere in the Sierra Nevada.

Those groups are petitioning the State Water Resources Control Board to more intensively monitor the company´s plans – which they say threaten the state´s water quality.