SACRAMENTO – For a sixth year in a row the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) presented Cal Fire and DynCorp International with the FAA’s Diamond Award of Excellence for Aviation Maintenance. The award recognizes Cal Fire’s aviation maintenance technicians after passing the difficult aircraft safety training program. More than 75 technicians were recognized and each awarded with the William (Bill) O’Brian ...

YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park is pleased to announce that the public scoping comment period for the Bridalveil Fall Rehabilitation Project Environmental Assessment will be open from Wednesday, Apr. 26, to Friday, May 26, 2017. The project will implement actions prescribed in the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan (NPS 2014), say park officials. During this public scoping ...

YOSEMITE – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 5,028,868 visitors to Yosemite National Park in 2016 spent $520,629,100 in communities near the park. That spending supported 7,883 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $686,339,500. “Yosemite National Park welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” said ...

YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park reports that progress continues to be made on repairs to the Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120). In early April, road crews dug down 65 feet to the bottom of an underground spring that caused soils to erode. The slope has been stabilized and soil and rock have been brought into the park to rebuild ...

SACRAMENTO – Being Ready for Wildfire has never been easier with Cal Fire’s new Ready for Wildfire app. This new tool puts a whole library of step-by-step checklists in the palm of the user’s hand. It allows homeowners to track their progress while creating Defensible Space, hardening their homes with fire-resistant construction, assembling an emergency supply kit and creating a ...

YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park will waive park entrance fees on the weekends of National Park Week, Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 15 – 16, and Apr. 22-23, 2017. National Park Week is a week-long celebration of our National Parks celebrated at National Park Service sites across the United States. Fees being waived for the weekends of National Park Week include ...

YOSEMITE — After years of drought, the central Sierra has experienced much welcome precipitation, and reports from the higher elevations of Yosemite National Park are encouraging. Park staff have completed the April 1 snow surveys, and report that the water content of the snowpack in the Tuolumne drainage is 177 percent of average. In the Merced drainage it is 168 ...

YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park reports that significant progress has been made on repairs to the Big Oak Flat road. Road crews have hit the bottom of an underground spring that caused soils to erode, and are working to stabilize and rebuild the road. The park pledges to announce an opening date for the Big Oak Flat road as soon ...

SACRAMENTO — Smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death and disease in California. About 3.1 million, or one out of nine, California adults smoke, and an estimated 34,000 Californians die from smoking-related diseases each year. On April 1, the tax on a pack of cigarettes will increase $2, from $0.87 to $2.87. This increase is a result of ...

YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park continues to repair the Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120 West) leading to Yosemite Valley from Crane Flat to Foresta Junction. The road has been closed since late February. Severe winter storms that have given new life to an underground spring have caused saturated, heavy soils under the road to slide downhill. Over 200 feet ...