The Rainbow Family gathering in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest near Dillon has less than a third of the population that it had during its 2000 gathering in the same area as of July 1. 

"There has been quite a significant difference," said National Forest Incident Management Team spokesperson Cassandra Cairns. "In 2000, by today's date, we had roughly 19,000 people at the gathering camp, and to day we are at 6,000. So there is a significant drop in the amount of people that are there."

Cairns says there is still lots of room for new visitors.

"There is about 1,100 vehicles that are at the site right now," said Cairnes. "There is sufficient designated parking areas and plenty more yet, so we are feeling really good about that."

In 2000, the Rainbow Family population peaked at over 23,000 during the independence day weekend. In order to hit that mark, over 15,000 people would need to travel to the gathering over the next three days.

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