National Parks

Merced River in Yosemite National Park now open to paddlers!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The Merced Wild and Scenic River Final Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement was released in February 2014.  The plan covers the more than 80 miles of Merced River that is within the Yosemite National Park and El Portal Administrative Site and is to serve as the framework to protect and manage river usage over then next 20 years.

From American Whitewater:

Late last week, the Merced River in Yosemite National Park was officially reopened to paddlers! Even though the new Wild and Scenic River Plan was finalized a year ago, the actual rules and regulations for the Park (the Superintendent’s Compendium) still needed to be updated. This finally happened on Friday, April 24, 2015, and is the culmination of seven years of sustained engagement by American Whitewater with the National Park Service and other stakeholders in this process. Allowing paddling was a tiny, yet important component of the grander plan to preserve the outstandingly remarkable values of the Wild and Scenic Merced River.

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Inspiration, Interesting Places

Photography in the Eastern Sierras by Cat Connor

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I dearly love the State of California; it is one of the most picturesque places in all of the world, with many varied and extraordinary landscapes and vistas. It truly does have something for everyone.

I grew up, primarily, at the beach. I saw many a sunset. Oddly, though, I’ve never really cared for ’em. I’ve never found them particularly romantic. Maybe I’ve seen too many of them, or maybe I just don’t like to throw anything away. And that’s what a sunset is. Sunset is the end of a friendship you had with the day. It’s – as I’ve written before – “the part of the relationship where all the little things you thought were cute grate on you like fingers down a chalkboard and you can’t wait for it to be over so you can go back inside.”

Personally, I believe I’ve got the soul of a cowboy. To this day I love all the great westerns; the panoramas, the wide open spaces. And – even though two of my most favorite cowboy films (Silverado and Tombstone) weren’t filmed there – I’ve had a deep and abiding love for the Sierra Nevadas. I love Yosemite, Kings Canyon, the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails, Death Valley and Mount Whitney. Being alone in the open cathedrals made of forests, rock, light, water, and stone makes me feel at peace within the magnificent machine built by our great Creator. I am a solitary wayfarer experiencing a world created just for me.

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News

California’s drought is 100% the fault of environmentalism

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I have long said that environmentalism is the bane of the planet. Environmentalists are largely to blame for most of the world’s ills – and certainly 100% of the blame for California’s drought is rightly centered on them and their idiotic meddling with nature. We would not be where we are today as Californians if we didn’t listen to environmentalists.  See my earlier post Unnatural Forests about why environmentalism is wrong-headed, and why conservation is the right thing to do.

…and we’d be MUCH further ahead of the game if we didn’t just “take the word” of so-called “reporters” who seem to be just making things up as they go along so they can get a paycheck. Truth be damned!

The latest “statistic” foisted on us by “reporters” is that California’s agriculture uses up 80% of the water in California.

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Conservation, National Forests, National Parks

Returning Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep to the heart of Yosemite

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are back in Yosemite’s Cathedral Range after over 100 years of absence!

Between March 26 and April 3, 2015 seven ewes were moved to the Laurel Creek area of Sequoia National Park. During this same time period ten ewes and three rams were were moved from the Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Park and released into the cliff habitat of the Cathedral Range in Yosemite National Park. All migrated sheep are in great condition, with nine of the Cathedral Range ewes pregnant (the single non-pregant ewe is a yearling).

From the National Park Press Release:

A multiagency operation was recently concluded that returned two herds of endangered bighorn sheep to locations in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, Inyo National Forest, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, worked together on the complex operation in the Sierra Nevada.

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National Forests, News

Nestle pumping water out of the San Bernardino Forest without a valid permit

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Nestle Waters North America – the bottler of Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water (one of my absolute favorites bottled waters; yes, I am a water snob!) – is in a bit of trouble over their water extraction operation in the San Bernardino National Forest.  It appears that during California’s current environmentalist caused drought catastrophe, Nestle has been pumping out water under permits that may have expired as far back as 1988.

Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, which takes its name from a natural rock formation in the San Bernardino Mountains that’s shaped like a giant arrowhead, is a brand of drinking water that is sold primarily in the western United States, including California, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest.  The company was acquired by Nestlé in 1987 – a year before the oldest permit expired.

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