Rollins Reservoir is located at an elevation of 2100 ft. in the Sierra foothills, in Nevada and Placer counties.  This mid-elevation storage facility is the closest recreational storage reservoir NID owns to the Highway 80 corridor, and includes four independently operated campgrounds with a combined 250 campsites and a complete range of services including stores, restaurants, fuel sales and rentals. Annually, thousands of visitors come to this reservoir, which is also part of NID’s Yuba-Bear Hydroelectric Power Project. NID owns and operates four powerhouses as part of this hydropower generation program, including the powerhouse at the Rollins Reservoir Dam, near where Highway 174 crosses the Bear River between Colfax and Grass Valley.  

In the past six years, NID has completed understory fuels reduction and hazard tree removal on NID-owned lands surrounding Rollins Reservoir. In 2018, NID removed approximately 80 acres of dense understory vegetation through CAL FIRE’s California Forest Improvement Program (CFIP) at Peninsula and parts of Orchard Springs campgrounds. These efforts were expanded upon with an additional CFIP grant to complete 103 additional acres in Long Ravine and Orchard Springs Campgrounds.  In the future, NID will continue to manage the understory vegetation to reduce wildfire risk and conduct annual hazard tree surveys to maintain these facilities for human health and safety, water security and watershed health. These projects will decrease the likelihood of wildfire ignition within campgrounds, reduce the severity of potential wildfire risk for adjacent communities and NID infrastructure, and ensure the safety of campground visitors.