News Release Archive

Reclamation Announces Customer Appreciation Day at New Melones Lake on Saturday, April 21, 2012

Media Contact: Pete Lucero, MP Region PAO, 916-978-5100, plucero@usbr.gov

For Release: April 16, 2012

Please join Bureau of Reclamation staff at New Melones Lake as they celebrate the fourth annual Customer Appreciation Day in support of the America’s Great Outdoors and Let’s Move Initiatives. To show appreciation for their customers, the $8 day use fee at the Tuttletown and Glory Hole recreation areas will be waived for all visitors on Saturday, April 21, 2012. Rangers and volunteers will be on-hand to talk about recreation, wildlife and more. New Melones Lake is managed by Reclamation’s Mid-Pacific Region, Central California Area Office, and is located approximately 60 miles east of Stockton, Calif.

Reclamation staff will lead a hike at the Peoria Equestrian Staging Area off of Peoria Flat Road at 10 a.m. to explore the Peoria Wildlife Area. The New Melones Dam Overlook will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. so that visitors may experience an up-close view of the dam and river canyon. Rangers and volunteers will discuss the history of the dam and the past, present and future of the Stanislaus River.

Directions to the Peoria Equestrian Staging Area: Take State Highway 49 south out of Jamestown; travel about 6 miles to the stoplight and turn right on O’Byrnes Ferry Road. Then turn right on Peoria Flat Road and follow it to the Cal-Fire Baseline Conservation Camp. Turn right at the entrance to the Baseline Camp, and then turn left into the Peoria Equestrian Staging Area.

New Melones Lake interpretive programs and events tie into President Barack Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative (http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/) which seeks to empower Americans to share in the responsibility to conserve, restore and provide better access to our lands and waters and leave a healthy and vibrant outdoor legacy for generations to come. Ranger-led hikes and activities follow First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative which is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams (http://www.letsmove.gov/).

For more information, please call 209-536-9094, ext. 0 (TTY 800-877-8339), or stop by the New Melones Lake Administration Office, 6850 Studhorse Flat Road, Sonora, CA 95370, Monday through Friday,
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or visit the New Melones website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/newmelones/. For questions, to be e-mailed the New Melones Spring Interpretive Calendar and/or to be added to the New Melones e-mail list, please contact Park Ranger Tracy Neal at tneal@usbr.gov or 209-536-9094, ext 215.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.

Relevant Link:

America’s Great Outdoors

Let’s Move!