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Yosemite Prescribed Burns Questioned
July 20, 2010 10:05 am
B.J. Hansen, MML News Director Sonora, CA --
The Tuolumne County Supervisors are writing a letter to the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park asking for better communication regarding prescribed burns. The Supervisors stated at today's meeting that there are concerns regarding the effect that prescribed burns have on tourism. The letter does not question the need for prescribed burns, but the timing. Days before the 4th of July weekend, Yosemite National Park conducted a 200 acre prescribed burn near Crane Flat that caused some drift smoke in the area.
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Daily Report - Yosemite National Park
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Weather
Yosemite Valley
Today: Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 10 and 13 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 54. West southwest wind at 11 mph becoming east.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 10 and 13 mph.
El Portal
Today: Sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 7 and 10 mph.
Tags: True tolerance goes all ways
By Wallace Alcorn | Austin Daily Herald
Published Monday, July 19, 2010
I read a sign in Yosemite National Park that advises visitors there are several sites that have been designated sacred.” This is to say some American Indians attach religious significance to a plot of ground. For this reason, the sign further warns, it is an offense to “desecrate” the spot. Then it lists a number of things most park visitors would otherwise do but are thereby prohibited from doing. OK, I stay clear; no problem.
Yet there is a problem, albeit different. Less than 300 miles away, also in California and also under the authority of the National Park Service, is a wood cross that courts have ruled is a violation of the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Now, I don’t think either the Indian sacred ground or the cross amount to government establishment of a religion. (Religious establishment is something entirely different.)
Continuing with the amazing blooming flower spring/summer we have had from our wet winter the Clarkia blooming now are the best in many years. Whole meadows are covered in their purplish color.
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Daily Report - Yosemite National Park Weather Yosemite Valley |
Here are some shots of the hang gliders flying in Yosemite Valley this morning. It is fun to watch and they land at Leidig Meadow sometime after 8am.
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From the Yosemite Hang Gliding Association website
"Yosemite National Park has granted permission to YHGA to conduct Hang Gliding activity from Glacier Point. Currently this is the only launch site with in the park boundaries. Flights from Glacier Point can only take place when a current qualified Yosemite Hang gliding monitor is present.
Launch times are restricted to the hours between 7:00am and 9:00am. All pilots must be on the ground by 10:00am. Pilots are encouraged to arrive before 7:00am and set up their gliders. Set up time can be as early as 6:00am. Pilots arriving late will only be allowed to fly at the monitors discretion. Pilots must have their gliders set up and inspected by the monitor prior to the start of the launch sequence for all pilots."
Yosemite offers more sites for campers
Yosemite National Park is offering more sites for campers, including a campground that's been closed for 13 years.
In announcing Friday that all campgrounds in the park are open for the summer, park officials also said Yosemite Creek Campground is open for the first time since 1997.
The campground was closed after a bridge was destroyed in a flood. Crews have finished rebuilding the bridge, making the campground once again accessible.
Several campgrounds along the Tioga Road and the Bridalveil Creek Campground on the Glacier Point Road, which were closed during the winter of 2009, are also open again.
Even with the additional sites, officials say all campsites on the reservation system are booked through the summer.
People who want to camp at the first-come, first-served campgrounds are urged to arrive early in the day.
If you were expecting a photo of the famous 1,000lb hogzilla from Alapaha, Georgia you came to the wrong place.
This is about the HogZilla Shredder that NPS and DNC has brought in to grind up all the junk piles of wood debris they have scattered through the park. Some of these piles are massive and normally they burn them all causing a lot of air pollution.
This HogZilla grinds up the debris and loads it into tractor trailers to be hauled away and used as biomass fuel. So far it seems to working quite well and has eliminated several piles in the park most notably the large debris pile at the El Capitan wood yard.
This is a great idea and has saved residents and park visitors from days of smoke pollution that we normally get when they burn all these pile.
Maybe NPS should purchase one? It could be used all through the park all the time and keep our air from being polluted.
A time lapse of 1527 photos, 1 hour and 40 minutes, compressed into 30 seconds. Taken from Foresta, Yosemite and is looking east into Yosemite Valley with the top of El Capitan visible through the 2 pine trees on the right.