California State Parks’ Program, Coordinated with CalFire — Recent Operations Focused in the Santa Cruz Mountains
California State Parks crews are continuing to conduct pile-burning work across the state. The most recent announcement is that they are targeting the Santa Cruz Mountains with pile burns planned across Big Basin Redwoods, Castle Rock, and Henry Cowell (including the Fall Creek unit). Operations are planned, as weather and air-quality windows allow, through April 2026. This is hands-on fuel reduction; not spectacle, not a shortcut, but a deliberate effort to remove the dry wood and brush fuel that can turn a lightning strike or a stray ember into a catastrophic, large-scale, landscape-devouring wildfire.
On October 30 the Bureau of Land Management lifted seasonal fire restrictions on BLM-managed public lands in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, southern Inyo, eastern Mono, San Diego, and eastern Kern counties. Campfires, barbecues, and gas stoves are allowed again on those BLM lands — but only with a valid California campfire permit. Permits are required outside developed campgrounds and are available for free at 
The holiday season is a perfect excuse to get out into the mountains — and Plumas National Forest is making it easy. Christmas tree permits are on sale now for $10 each at local forest offices or online through 
Bring home a real tree and help the forest at the same time! 
OC Parks opened Crawford Canyon Park with a ribbon-cutting today. Nestled where Newport Boulevard meets Crawford Canyon Road in North Tustin, the new 2.5-acre park was planned with the community’s voice in mind and officially unveiled for families, walkers, and neighbors to enjoy. Two nature-themed playgrounds, exercise stations, picnic tables, a quarter-mile paved loop, ADA parking, and improved sidewalks make it easy to stroll over and spend an afternoon. Supervisor Donald P. Wagner called it an inviting, walkable space for making memories, and judging by the kids testing swings and neighbors trading smiles, that’s exactly what it’s already doing.