The U.S. Forest Service just opened a rulemaking process that could reshape how motorized vehicles are allowed to move through national forests and grasslands nationwide.Not a proposed rule yet. Just the opening bell – and the window to speak up is now, before that proposal gets written.
The California State Parks Foundation opens its 2026 Photo Contest today, August 24. Entries are free. Open to everyone. Submissions close September 21, 2026.
You can submit up to three photos in each of five categories. Every photo has to be taken in a California state park. That’s the rule that actually matters – the rest is just categories.
Senate Bill 1305 would have required the state to study the feasibility of reintroducing grizzlies. It never got a vote – and the fight isn’t over.
Starting July 2, guided hikes are available on the Salmon Pass Trail, just south of Fortuna in Humboldt County, every weekend through mid-November.
The trail sits at the southern end of the Headwaters Forest Reserve. The hike covers three miles over three to four hours, climbing 360 feet through a mix of old-growth and second-growth redwood – moderately strenuous, definitely not a stroll. The ground is unpaved. Rain turns it slick, and the forest holds its chill – even in July.
The Bureau of Land Management is selling firewood permits for a dollar a cord on public land near the Chester Airport, and the wood is already on the ground. It’s from the 2021 Dixie Fire – standing dead and downed trees that need to come out of the forest anyway, and now you can haul them home for next to nothing.
That’s the deal: a dollar per cord, and every cord you collect helps clear out fuel that’s been sitting there for five years. Fewer dead trees means healthier forest and better habitat behind the burn scar.
