The MAPWaters Act has cleared Congress and is headed to the President’s desk.
Binoculars are the simplest upgrade you can carry that actually changes what you see. Get them set right and a distant ridge, a bird on the wing, or a marker across the water resolves into something useful instead of a tired blur. Most folks treat them like they’re just one knob and a wild guess — twist the center wheel, squint, and keep turning until frustration wins. That’s backward. Binoculars are a time-proven, compact, mechanical instrument that performs perfectly when the parts are tuned to you.
Binoculars are a handful of simple systems that do very specific jobs. Know what each part does, and you won’t be fiddling when the bird, marker, or Bigfoot shows up. Continue reading
760 acres in San Diego and Imperial counties will be transferred to the Navy for a three-year National Defense Area to support border security and reduce illegal-use impacts.Let’s start with this: I’m not a fan of the government – federal or state – transferring public lands out of public hands. EVER.
The Interior Department is handing roughly 760 acres of public land in San Diego and Imperial counties to the Navy for a three-year transfer to establish a National Defense Area in support of border security operations. The designated area stretches from the western edge of the Otay Mountain Wilderness to about a mile west of the California–Arizona line, a corridor officials say sees heavy illegal crossing activity and the attendant strain on the landscape. Continue reading
The sky over California puts on one of its best displays this weekend. From desert flats to high mountain vistas, the Geminid meteor shower peaks between December 13 and 14 — and under the right conditions, it’s the year’s most spectacular meteor show. Get away from town lights and clouds, and you’ll see fast, bright streaks and the occasional fireball that make a late night worth it.
The Geminids run roughly from December 1 to 21, with peak activity from December 13 to 14. Plan to be settled in by about 10 p.m.; the waning crescent moon doesn’t rise until roughly 2 a.m., which gives several moon-free hours when the faint stuff is visible. The stream is debris from asteroid 3200 Phaethon and, under dark skies, rates can hit 60–120 meteors per hour. NASA calls the Geminids one of the most powerful and spectacular annual showers. Continue reading
Across BLM public lands this winter, the Interior Department has turned a holiday chore into a practical win. The Bureau of Land Management’s “One Dollar, One Tree“ action makes gathering a Christmas tree or personal-use firewood inexpensive while directing work into overstocked stands that need thinning.
Effective immediately for the 2025–2026 winter season, the BLM has cut personal-use permits for Christmas trees and firewood to $1 per tree or per cord through January 31, 2026. The agency is opening new cutting areas in overstocked woodlands, with priority given to locations near communities, military bases, tribal areas, and rural counties. Household limits are raised in many places — up to 10 cords of firewood and up to three Christmas trees — and caps can be relaxed where resources allow. The department projects the combined programs will deliver nearly $10 million in holiday savings to families while helping reduce hazardous fuels on public lands. Continue reading
