Activities, Adventures, Jeep

2014 Jeep Jamboree Registration Opens December 1st @ 12:00 AM (EST)

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jeep Jamborees are two-day, family oriented four-wheel-drive adventures.  They’re for every level of expertise from novice to veteran and everyone in between.

From Jeep Jamboree’s website:

Any Jeep vehicle with a 4-LO transfer case can participate – that includes everything from showroom stock all the way up to highly modified rigs. Experienced guides help navigate you through scenic switchbacks and some of the most challenging off-highway situations you never thought your Jeep vehicle was capable of. And, perhaps best of all, you’ll be meeting and making new friends along the way.

This year’s registration opens on Sunday, December 1st at 12:00am (EST) (that’s 9:00pm (PST) for us west coast folks!).  These events can fill up fast, so DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR ALARM!

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Adventures

California’s High Sierra Trail: 75 miles of mountainous bliss

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell
HighSierraTrailmiamiheraldPam LeBlanc has penned a story in the Miami Herald about her adventures along the High Sierra Trail.  If you’re thinking about venturing out for a nice long walk, make sure you read about her adventures!  From the Miami Herald:

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Not all vacations should involve high thread-count sheets, gourmet meals served on fine china or soapy baths.

This one sure didn’t.

Six of us traded such luxuries for sleeping bags, tents, dehydrated meals and hours spent plodding the High Sierra Trail in central California with 25 pounds on our backs.

Everything got distilled to the basics: Walk. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

No smartphone. No Internet. No deodorant. The same set of filthy clothes worn hard, six days in a row.

Backpacking lets you see the land up close, in slow motion. The owls hoot at night. Storms brew and rain falls. You get wet. And smelly. Blisters form. Muscles ache. Toes get dipped in icy streams. Freeze-dried food never tasted so good.

It’s the most magical way to travel.

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Conservation, National Forests, National Parks

U.S. Forest Service’s Ecological Restoration Implementation Plan – How it affects you

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service has released a statement of its Leadership Intent for Ecological Restoration, which laid out the Region’s guiding vision and goals for its stewardship of wildland and forests for the next 15-20 years. The following draft document reflects the Regional leadership’s current thinking on how the Leadership Intent will be implemented. This draft is a beginning point for discussions with employees, partners, tribes, agencies, communities of place and interest and those who care about the future of their National Forests.

Like the Leadership Intent the Implementation Plan is fluid and we expect that adjustments will be made over time as the Region continues to collaborate; follow new science; and seek out and form new alliances. These ongoing processes will reveal new and smarter ways to increase the pace and scale of restoration work while balancing the ecological, social and economic benefits of our restoration actions. Regional leadership has committed to editing and improving this document following these discussions and then reviewing and updating it at least annually in the future years. Hence we invite discussion, input and insight to ensure that the Implementation Plan reflects and is responsive to new information, partnerships, and conditions.

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National Forests

Forest Service seeks public comments on proposed changes to Recreation Fee Areas on Cleveland National Forest

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed changes that would allow public access to an additional 30,000 acres of the Cleveland National Forest for free.

The changes to Recreation Fee Areas would eliminate or reduce the size of six existing recreation areas where visitors are now required to have Adventure Passes.

The public comments period is open now through December 13, 2013.  Comments may be submitted to:

Cleveland National Forest
Trabuco Ranger District
1147 East Sixth Street
Corona, CA 92879

or by email to: jfrodriguez@fs.fed.us

The full press release follows (you may also view it HERE):

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National Forests, National Parks

Sen. Flake Introduces Bill to Help Keep Public Lands Open During Federal Government Shutdowns

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

 

Press Release from Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ):

Washington, D.C. – United States Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), today introduced S. 1750, the Public Access to Public Lands Guarantee Act. The legislation would require the federal government to enter an agreement with any state or municipality willing to offer funding to keep public lands, such as national monuments, national recreation areas and national parks, open during a shutdown of the federal government. S. 1750 seeks to prevent the federal government from delaying – or denying – the negotiation of these agreements, as it did when Arizona offered local and state funds to keep the Grand Canyon National Park open during the recent shutdown.

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