Less than 10 years after it opened, it was disclosed that the State of California had plans to shut down the California Conservation Center at Susanville. Of course, the community fought to keep it and on December 13, 1972 the Save Our Center campaign was launched. State Director of Corrections Ray Procunier stated that the California Conservation Center near Susanville was to be closed effective April 1, 1973. Procunier cited a decline of the inmate population by 4,000. In doing so it would eliminate 270 jobs. Procunier stated, “The cutting off of that payroll is to have an impact of the economy of that community, but Susanville is not the best location in the world for a correctional institution because of its remoteness.”