Category Archives: Conservation

Conservation, Hiking - General

American Hiking Society’s Save the Trails Fund

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I love to hike.  I love the outdoors.  One thing that disrupts the flow on our hiking trails is the insurgence of mountain bikes ridden in an unsafe manner on trails where mountain bikes aren’t allowed to be that puts hikers and the mountain bikers at risk.

From the American Hiking Society’s website:

In recent months there has been an upsurge of organized mountain biking groups attempting to gain access to sections of National Scenic Trails where mountain bikes are currently prohibited. These trails – or in some cases, sections of these trails – were neither designed nor built for mountain bike use. Due to concerns about safety, sustainability, and the displacement of hikers on trails with heavy bike usage, AHS believes that the sections of National Scenic Trails, where mountain bikes are currently prohibited, should remain closed to bikes.

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Conservation, National Forests

Yamaha Volunteers Complete OHV Project in San Bernardino National Forest

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Three-Year Project Restores Popular Staging and Riding Areas near Big Bear, Calif. 

CYPRESS, Calif. – October 1, 2013 – Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., volunteers completed a three-year project at one of the nation’s most popular multi-use off-highway vehicle (OHV) staging areas located in the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF).

As part of the Yamaha OHV Access Initiative and with support of the Southern California Mountains Foundation’s (SCMF) OHV program, volunteers gathered recently for a final round of planting, cleaning and maintaining the popular Cactus Flats staging area and surrounding trails.

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Conservation, News

USDA and Coca-Cola Partner to Replenish One Billion Liters of Water to Nature

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Initial Projects to Improve Water Resources in Five States, including California

CHICAGO, September 13, 2013 –U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Coca-Cola Americas President Steve Cahillane today announced a public-private partnership to restore and protect damaged watersheds on national lands. Together these efforts aim to return more than a billion liters of water to the National Forest System – which provides drinking water to more than 60 million Americans. The announcement was made at Midewin Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois.

“By working together, we can better protect our nation’s watersheds and further enhance restoration efforts, even during challenging budget times,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Today’s partnership between Federal, private and non-profit partners is just one example of the strong collaboration that allows government to continue providing results for the American people.”

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Conservation, News

Who Watches the Watchers at Mono Lake?

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

With their usual regard for conservation and the environment, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP)continues to display their professional ineptitude and scandalous behavior.  All efforts to protect and restore Mono Lake have been undermined by the DWP since they made a unilateral power-grab of lake monitoring operations and started diverting $10,000,000 in water per year.    Everything the DWP is doing is directly in violation of the rules set in 1998 by the State Water Board.

Guess the DWP had to find SOME way to pay all those ridiculously high salaries, right?

From the post:

A May 13, 2013 report to the State Water Board revealed that the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) failed to keep its promise to monitor the health of Mono Lake. DWP unilaterally took over operations of the lake monitoring program in August 2012, displacing the independent expert scientists who had run the program for 30 years. Since then a litany of issues has ensued. As a result, critical data—such as the salinity of Mono Lake—are not being collected, and key portions of the data that are being gathered are not usable. These failures are violations of the rules set in 1998 by the State Water Board.

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Conservation, National Forests, National Parks, News, State Parks

Our Forest Place

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

If you are interested in land management in California, I encourage you to visit (and join!) OurForestPlace.com.  From the website:

The idea for OurForestPlace came about when a group of Forest Service planners were brought together to create a regional assessment for California that embraces the intent of the Proposed 2011 Planning Rule and the groundswell of collaborative efforts throughout the region.  This group of planners realized early on that the traditional assessment product – a static document informed by public and stakeholder involvement only at limited, predefined points – restricts its very usefulness and success. We needed to shift the focus from the product to the process. Through consultation with federal, state, local government and non-government groups it became clear that a successful assessment is the by-product of a robust, collaborative process.

Get involved in YOUR California!

You can visit the OurForestPlace.com website HERE.