The Republic of California was admitted to the United States of America as “California” becoming the 31st state on September 9, 1850.
ABC News is reporting that the week old Meadow Fire has grown to 700 acres.
From a smaller 100-acre blaze, the fire has suddenly flared up, jumping to 300 acres yesterday and igniting an additional 400 acres overnight.
From their website:
A wildfire in Yosemite National Park grew to 700 acres Sunday, with about 100 visitors rescued by helicopter, park officials said.
Sunday’s strong winds and high temperatures fueled the fire, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb told ABC News.
Hikers were airlifted from Half Dome peak, a popular rock formation, as well as nearby campgrounds and hiking trails, Cobb said.
“We actually had a number of helicopters here in the park that were able to airlift these individuals back to Yosemite Valley so that they could be out of the way of the fire,” Cobb said.
The Meadow Fire is burning in the greater Little Yosemite Valley area and is at 400 acres.
All trails from the top of Nevada Fall to Merced Lake, including trails leading to that area, are closed. Additionally, the trail from Sunrise Lakes Trailhead to Sunrise Lakes and Sunrise Lakes High Sierra Camp, and the trails from the camp to the trail along the Merced River east of Little Yosemite Valley, are closed.
Currently, four type 1 helicopters, three type 3 helicopters, three air tankers, one air attack, six hotshot crews, and other resources are assigned to the fire.
A GORGEOUS time-lapse of our beautiful state like you’ve probably never seen it. It took four years to put this together; “The average clip took 1-3 hours to film and another 3-10 hours to edit. Several cuts are from clips more than 24 hours long. I shot 423 clips over four years to make this, but the majority of the 67 clips ultimately used were shot in the last 12 months.” – Hal Bergman
Take four minutes and watch this awesome video!
Scoping workshops this month, comments due by September 29
The U.S. Forest Service today announced a 30-day public scoping period to start the National Environmental Policy Act process for revising forest plans on the Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra National Forests. The scoping period begins August 29, 2014 with the publishing of the Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register.
The Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra are three of eight national forests selected as “early adopters,” meaning they will be the first forests to revise their land management plans under the 2012 Forest Service Planning Rule. The planning rule provides the framework for Forest Service land management plans on national forests across the nation.
These three forest plan revisions will be completed through the development of one environmental impact statement (EIS). The final EIS will result in three separate Records of Decision and three separate forest plans. Forest Supervisors are the responsible officials for making decisions on their specific forest plans.