MARIPOSA COUNTY —  The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit (MMU) has announced that effective at 8 a.m. Sunday, May 1, all hazard reduction burning will require a permit in Mariposa County. Permits are required year round in Madera County. The following guidelines are required when conducting a hazard reduction burn: Property owners conducting hazard ...

YOSEMITE — The Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park will open for the season to automobile traffic on, Tuesday, Apr. 19, at 9 a.m. The Glacier Point Store will not be open yet, but sources say it should open in early May. Vault toilets will be available for visitors before then. Bridalveil Creek Campground is closed, and will open ...

SACRAMENTO – Cal Fire along with California ReLeaf, has announced that community groups across the state will receive $385,000 in funding for tree planting projects through the California ReLeaf 2016 Social Equity Tree Planting Program. Individual grants range from $18,500 to $70,000 and were funded by a grant awarded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) ...

SACRAMENTO – Some of the monies collected from property owners in the mountain area through the yearly “rural fire fee” are slated to return to the community as grant funding for local projects. On Monday, Apr. 4, Cal Fire announced it had awarded an additional $3 million in grants throughout the state for a variety of fire prevention projects aimed ...

SACRAMENTO – With spring now taking hold in California, Cal Fire is already staffing up for fire season, while focusing the efforts of its crews on preventing large and damaging wildfires. Recent rains have been a welcome sight to drought parched California, but Cal Fire says their firefighters are not letting their guard down; instead they are training for another ...

Guest Column written by Bill Ritchey —  NORTH FORK – Sitting at the end of the cul-de-sac of Chipo Poyah Road in Teaford Lakes Meadow stands a 3-story house that 87-year-old retiree George Hathaway has called home since 1986. Like other homes in the cozy neighborhood, Hathaway’s sits nestled among dozens of dense pines. Similarly as well, many of his ...

Written by Gina Clugston — YOSEMITE — People are mad. They’re upset about the name changes in Yosemite, they’re writing angry letters to Delaware North and threatening boycotts of the Tenaya Lodge, a Delaware North property in Fish Camp. The resort’s several hundred employees don’t have a dog in this fight, but must suffer the very vocal condemnation of the ...

CLOVIS — The Sierra National Forest will be submitting the OHV (Off-Highway Vehicle) preliminary 2015/2016 grant cycle applications on Mar. 7, to the State of California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Division. Beginning Mar. 8, and running through Apr. 4, the OHV preliminary 2015/2016 grant cycle applications will be available for public comment at OHMVR Division’s website http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov. Public comments ...

MADERA COUNTY — The Madera County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents that once again, the “pay up or we’ll shut off your electricity” PG&E scam is targeting power customers in the area. In one such scam, PG&E customers have told the company that they are receiving calls that show PG&E’s caller ID (1-800-743-5000) on their phones. Customers are told they ...

MOUNTAIN AREA — For the past few days, we have been receiving calls, messages and emails about the big booms people are hearing across the Central Sierra, so we have tracked down some information and it turns out there are two different activities occuring at once. There is multi-agency training underway, known as RED FLAG, involving personnel from Nellis Air ...