Category Archives: National Parks

Activities, Adventures, National Forests, National Parks

Wells Fargo Foundation funds NatureBridge’s Yosemite Summer Field Research Course

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The Wells Fargo Scholars program, generously funded by a grant from the Northern and Central California Region of the Wells Fargo Foundation, gives students from Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties an opportunity to attend NatureBridge’s Summer Field Research Course in Yosemite National Park.

Students have the chance to receive a full or partial scholarship based on the strength of their application, recommendations from supportive educators and community leaders, and the individual’s financial need.

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National Parks

Galen Clark and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

On this day in 1814 Galen Clark was born in Shipton, Canada East (now known as Quebec).

As a young man, he became part of the great westward migration.  He first headed to Missouri, where he met his wife Rebecca McCoy, who bore him two daughters. Unfortunately, his wife waste die far too young.

It’s believed that after her death, Galen moved further to the west, settling in California during the Gold Rush to seek his fortune.  After living in the Golden State for five years, Clark contracted tuberculosis at the age of 39.  Consumption was a fatal diagnosis in 1853, as there was no course of treatment or antibiotics at the the time.  Doctors gave him six months to live, and recommended rest and clean air.

Galen moved to Wawona, California – a small ‘census designated place’ located entirely within what would eventually become Yosemite National Park – in 1855.

“I went to the mountains to take my chances of dying or growing better, which I thought were about even.” Galen Clark.

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National Parks

Retired National Park Leaders Oppose Soda Mountain Solar

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Chris Clarke has posted an article at KCET.org about the Soda Mountain Solar monstrosity that seriously threatens the Mojave National Preserve and offers virtually no benefit whatsoever.  From the article:

Five retired National Park Service Superintendents who spent a cumulative 35 years managing California’s three desert National Parks are asking the Bureau of Land Management to move a 4,000-acre solar project they say would threaten the Mojave National Preserve’s wildlife, views and groundwater.

In a letter to BLM California Desert District staff, the five also contend the Soda Mountain Solar project would violate local ordinances regulating renewable energy facilities. They’re asking the BLM to issue a new Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project that would take a serious look at alternative locations for the project, and extend public comment on the project by another 60 days.

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National Forests, National Parks

National Park Service announces public engagement campaign as centerpiece of 2016 centennial

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I wrote about this yesterday, but there’s a press release about the shiny new logos for the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, so I thought I’d put the press release up here for you as well:

National Park Service and National Park Foundation Unveil Expanded Graphic Identity

The National Park Service today announced that the centerpiece of its 2016 Centennial will be a broad public engagement campaign to reintroduce the national parks and the work of the National Park Service to a new generation of Americans, inviting them to visit and get involved. The two-year effort will begin in 2015 and run throughout the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary year in 2016. Plans for the campaign, entitled “Find Your Park,” are underway in collaboration with the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.

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