Other project areas may be closed for a number of years before being again opened for OHV use. Where possible, well designed OHV trails are immediately provided through project areas. Project areas are temporarily closed to OHV use through the use of barriers, such as fences, hay bales, brush piles and signing. Vegetation creates wildlife habitat while plant roots help stabilize the soil. There are projects ongoing to stabilize eroded areas by reshaping slopes, and by reseeding and replanting bare areas. Sites exist throughout the SVRA which have become eroded. Provisions in California law require actions to stabilize soils and to provide for healthy wildlife populations in OHV recreation areas. Providing long-term, sustained OHV recreation opportunity is a top priority in SVRA Management. Sacramento County managed the park until July 1988 when the operation was turned over to the Off-Highway Vehicle Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation. An additional 401 acres was purchased in 1976 with State Off-Highway Vehicle Funds, bringing the total acreage to 836. Sacramento County purchased the area in 1975 with the assistance of the State Off-Highway Vehicle Grants Program. In 1972, Roy and Mary McGill leased 435 acres of the present park site from Aerojet General Corporation and created a motorcycle riding and competition facility called McGills Cycle Park. Remnants of the park's space-age past include a test pit south of the present day-use staging area and a dome-shaped building known as the "moon room" located next to the present park office. No actual rocket testing took place after Congress cut program funding. 50.Īerojet General Corporation purchased the southern portion of this property in the early 1960s to build and test rocket engines for the U.S. Today, the only reminders of that 1850s community are some old mine tailings and a historical marker, California Historical Landmark #464, which is located at the intersection of Prairie City Road and U.S. Prairie City SVRA takes its name from the gold rush community that was located just north and east of the present-day park. Beginners as well as experts find the variety of terrain both challenging and enjoyable. There are flat, open grasslands, rolling hills with native blue oak trees, and acres of cobbled mine tailings left after gold dredges combed ancient river beds in search of gold during the late 1800s. The area offers off-highway vehicle enthusiasts a variety of interesting terrain and trails for motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, and 4-wheel drive vehicles. Prairie City is situated at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills, 20 miles east of downtown Sacramento and three miles south of U.S. Welcome to Prairie City State Vehicular Recreation Area.