VALLEJO, Calif. — In May, National Forests in California enacted state-wide campfire restrictions, until further notice, to protect the health and safety of communities and firefighters. Igniting, building, maintaining, or using a campfire on National Forests in California remain prohibited, except for developed campgrounds and certain permitted facilities. Check with local National Forests for any additional fire restrictions in place ...

MADERA COUNTY — The search has stretched into a second week for a camper who went missing over the July 4th holiday weekend in the Sierra National Forest above Bass Lake. “Your family is worried about you,” was written on a sticker attached by Forest Service officials to Sandra Johnsen Hughes’ car, which was found about two miles from her ...

MADERA COUNTY — More details are emerging about  a woman who went missing over the weekend while camping in the Sierra National Forest. Sandra Johnsen Hughes, 53, was last seen at least three days ago on a trail above Bass Lake. Hughes’ campsite in the Johnson Meadows area between Beasore and Minarets roads was discovered Sunday by hikers, who found her ...

MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES — After a temporary halt prompted by COVID-19, the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region is “moving forward with prescribed fire operations as conditions and resources permit,” according to a press release issued Friday by the agency.Previously, the region had postponed prescribed fires to reduce potential smoke impacts to communities while public health officials considered the interactions of smoke ...

Editor’s Note: Brenda Cordes passed away in March. Those of you who knew her, and many did, will not be surprised to learn that she wrote her own obituary. Here is what she wrote: “If I Should Die Before I Wake, I Pray the Lord my Soul to Take Brenda lived her life her way…giving of loving kindness, being with ...

NORTH FORK – North Fork University’s inaugural program — “Meeting of the Minds” — drew about 40 curious “students” to the STUDIO Friday night. The “class” featured a lively discussion from a round table of historical figures including Winston Churchill, Hawaiian Queen Lili’uokalani (local actress Cassandra Hepburn), Chinese philosopher Dr. Sun Yet-sun, painter Pablo Picasso and President Abraham Lincoln. The ...

NORTH FORK — Don’t be too surprised tonight if you see Pablo Picasso chatting up Abraham Lincoln in downtown North Fork. The first official class for North Fork’s new “university” takes place Friday (Jan. 10) — and the two historical luminaries together with some other very famous figures are the stars of NFU’s inaugural, off beat syllabus. Called “Meeting of ...

Cortland Arthur Johnson, born August 13th, 1938, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Elias Arthur Johnson and Nadine Isabel Freed, passed away at the age of 81 in his home in Oakhurst on December 20th, 2019. At the age of nineteen, Cortland enlisted in the Navy, where he served on the USS Stoddard until his last duty assignment on the USS Henderson. ...

By Sal Maccarone Through the ages mankind has always had a fascination with the reconfiguring of landscape. For example, what once was the Isthmus of Panama is now the Panama Canal, what once was a desert in Nevada is now Las Vegas, and what once was a swampland in Hawaii is now the very famous Waikiki Beach. Waikiki, in Honolulu, ...

FRESNO — Family, friends and former colleagues gathered Monday night (Sept. 9) at the Peters Auditorium on the Fresno State campus to remember Gaylen D. Lee, a prominent Mono Indian tribal elder who was killed July 6 in a shooting near his home in North Fork. Longtime CSUF anthropology professor Dr. John Pryor organized the tribute to Lee. “Gaylen was ...