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.
Drive up into the foothills east of Redding, past the last gas station with cell service, and you’ll see them – empty lots where houses used to stand, driveways that lead to nothing but a chimney and a mailbox. Some of those lots have been empty since 2018. Not because the owners gave up. Because nobody would insure what they wanted to rebuild.
For most of the last decade, that’s been the story of wildfire country in California. Homeowners with clean records and defensible space, dropped anyway. Whole zip codes redlined by carriers who decided the math no longer worked. And a question that’s followed every one of those empty lots: will the private insurance market ever come back, or is California stuck propping up its own backcountry forever?
Summer’s here, the hills are dry, and the Angeles National Forest just elevated fire danger to HIGH. Effective June 12, 2026, a new forest order is in place covering the entire Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, running through December 31, 2026.
If you’re heading out to the forest this summer – hiking, camping, off-roading, whatever brings you up there – this affects you directly.
