The Bear River is a tributary of the Feather River

Feather River

The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is about . Its drainage basin is about...

 in the Sierra Nevada, winding through four California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 counties: Yuba

Yuba County, California

Yuba County is a county located in the U.S. state of California's Central Valley, north of Sacramento, along the Feather River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 72,155. The county seat is Marysville. Yuba County is part of the Greater Sacramento area.-History:Yuba County was one of the...

, Sutter

Sutter County, California

Sutter County is a county located along the Sacramento River in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of state capital Sacramento. Sutter County is part of the Greater Sacramento CSA....

, Placer

Placer County, California

Placer County is a county located in both the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada regions of the U.S. state of California, in what is known as the Gold Country. It stretches from the suburbs of Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border. Because of the expansion of the Greater Sacramento,...

, and Nevada

Nevada County, California

Nevada County is a county located in the Sierra Nevada of California, in the Mother Lode country. As of 2010 its population was 98,764. The county seat is Nevada City.-History:Nevada County was created in 1851 from parts of Yuba County....

.

The river originates in Tahoe National Forest

Tahoe National Forest

Tahoe National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the state of California, northwest of Lake Tahoe. It includes the peak of Sierra Buttes, near Sierra City, which has views of Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. It is located in parts of six counties. In descending order of forestland area...

 south of the South Fork Yuba River

Yuba River

The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sacramento Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the Feather's most important branches, providing about a third of its flow. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into North, Middle and South...

 and north of the North Fork American River

American River

The American River is a California watercourse noted as the site of Sutter's Mill, northwest of Placerville, California, where gold was found in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush...

. It begins south and west of Lake Spaulding (Reservoir). The river travels southwest and is impounded at Rollins Reservoir, Lake Combie (Reservoir), and Camp Far West Reservoir before joining the Feather River south of Yuba City/Marysville

Marysville, California

Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 12,072 at the 2010 census, down from 12,268 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, often referred to as the Yuba-Sutter Area after the two counties, Yuba and...

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Dam proposal

In July 2011, a new dam project for the Bear River was revealed to be under study by a consortium of out of area water districts. The South Sutter Water District (Trowbridge), along with the Cities of Napa and American Canyon, Palmdale, and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, issued a preliminary study on siting a new dam north of the present Camp Far West Reservoir and south of Combie and Rollins reservoirs farther upstream. The dam would be in the NID (Nevada Irrigation District) water district and would flood portions of Nevada County and Placer County. The proposed Garden Bar Dam would be located in areas already set aside as conservation and wildlife areas, and the resulting lake would inundate prime wildlife habitat and oak and savannah grasslands.

Because of concerns that the water that would fill the proposed large reservoir (245000 acre.ft, according to the study, the largest option would be 3 square miles (7.8 km²)) is already allocated for existing impoundment lakes by dams on the Bear River at Camp Far West, Combie, and Rollins, the actual feasibility of the project seems speculative, and has raised doubts as to the actual purpose of the proposal.

A quote from the study says "Water Availability: The report acknowledges the existence of "numerous issues that would need to be resolved to confirm the availability of this water and the ability to convey a portion of it through the Delta, if so desired."