As the holidays get close, and the air cools off a bit (yep, I’ve already dug out my flannel-lined jeans!) don’t forget our California State Parks. CalParks Park Champions program operates year round to help restore the natural ecosystems in state parks or assist with much needed general maintenance projects.
You can join one of the many volunteer teams who are helping to keep our parks going. Current projects include improving the vital habitat at Half Moon Bay (San Mateo), Silver Strand (San Diego), or Palomar Mountain (San Diego), repairing trails at Wildwood Canyon in San Bernardino, and you can even help with general park maintenance at Candlestick Point in San Francisco.

Mary Forgione, the Los Angeles Times’ Daily Deal and Travel Blogger has written an article about winter vacation deals in Utah and California. It turns out that there are some great weekday deals in and around our national parks. In California, for example, Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks have fewer visitors, snow, and low prices!
Press release from the USDA:
Today, California State Parks is officially launching the 150th Anniversary of State Parks, along with the grand opening of California’s Statewide Museum Collections Center in McClellan Park, an event sponsored by the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF).
Dan Lungren and John Van de Kamp have penned an opinion piece in the L.A. Times about the Hetch Hetchy Valley. They’d like to see the valley restored and the dam removed. I’m too young to remember what the valley looked like, but I’m of the opinion that it’s too late, and California has already wasted too much of the taxpayer’s money doing idiotic things like re-electing mistakes for governor and investing in high speed rail that nobody – except those getting rich off kickbacks – wants.