UPDATE 5/10/2019
The Rangers said that because the area is so rugged and remote, they will be leaving the body of the horse that fell off this trail in place to naturally decompose. Trail users will smell the odor in this area for a few more weeks.

UPDATE 5/3/2019
The picture shows where the horse slipped off the Pioneer Express Trail, and that the trail is clear for passage. The trail is stable and clear.

UPDATE 4/27/19
According to the Sterling Pointe Facebook page, some riders have gone up to the area today, and said it was passible. The edge of the trail where the horse turned around and slipped was visible, but the trail bed looks stable. This is a report from public riders, not State Parks. Rider is OK.

TRAIL SAFETY AWARENESS
There are many areas on the Pioneer Express trail and the connecting Western States Trail where it is unsafe for a horse to turn around. The Pioneer Express trail is single file, narrow, cliffy, and steep. There are areas where you may go 1/4 mile where there is no place for a horse to safely turn around. Each person has to evaluate their own experience if that type of trail is safe for them and their horse.

​There is a map and pictures here below show what is typical of the Pioneer Express Trail in those areas. 

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PREVIOUS POST 4/26/19
Pease avoid or the area from Sterling Pointe to Rattlesnake Bar. Trail is going to be checked for stability. Horse attempting to turn around fell about 1/2 mile from Horseshoe Bar, going north, just after the rocky narrow part of the trail. 

UPDATE MAY 9, 2019
The opportunity to volunteer for the Folsom Lake SRA Mounted Patrol has been extended to June 12. 2019. If you are interested, CLICK HERE to email Kendra for more information and application forms.

ORIGINAL POST MAY 1, 2019
If you are an equestrian who wishes to be a volunteer for the Folsom Lake SRA Mounted Patrol, this is your chance. There are a few openings available now and until May 10, 2019. (Photo credit, Patty Neifer)

A partial list of responsibilities include being certified in First Aid/CPR/AED, riding/participating for a year and then testing,  qualifying and certifying you and your horse as a working unit. You will be required to attend monthly meetings, perform and documenting patrols, assist with public events, and participate in trail work. You will be responsible for purchasing uniforms and all supplies.

Please email Kendra to receive more information and application forms.

A portion of the American River Parkway trail is to be shut down for a run. This is to make way for runners to attempt to break world records.
SACRAMENTO, California — Runners are going to take over the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail on Saturday, May 4.
The Hoka One 100K Challenge is a run where 10 athletes are going to attempt to break two world records. This run is also going to cause a closure of the Jedediah Smith Memorial trail, from Hazel Avenue to Guy West Bridge, between the hours of 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Ken Casparis, a spokesperson for Sacramento County Parks, said that the trail should open up as the runners pass through.

Casparis said that the records that the athletes are attempting include the 100K and 10 x 10K world records. The race is considered an ultramarathon, which is around a 62-mile-long run.

The run starts at the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area and then goes down the American River to the Guy West Bridge. Casparis said that if people want to come out, this race could be a fun thing to watch.
"It's going to be a fun event," Casparis said. "I mean, how often do people break records in your own backyard?"
Neither the City of Folsom nor Sacramento County are expecting to shut down any roads, so traffic should not be affected by the run.

Several Park Watch Reporters have told of dozens of Black Legged Ticks crawling on hikers, riders, and particularly dogs.
On the Independence Trail today, after a hike, 30 ticks were removed from ONE dog.

These certainly aren't the only areas and trails with loads of ticks waiting to jump on you and your pets. Be aware in ALL grassy and treed areas. Where ever there are deer, there will be ticks.

WHY SO MANY TICKS??
The past three years have had higher than normal rainfall resulting in a higher mouse and deer population, the main carriers of the Black Legged Tick. Add the lush grass where they can hide and drop on any person or animal that brushes past, and we have a perfect storm.

BLACK LEGGED TICKS ARE A MAIN CARRIER OF LYME DISEASE
Approximately 10% to 30% of the ticks tested in our area are affected by Lyme Disease and can pass it to you and your pets. If not identified and treated quickly, Lyme can become a chronic and debilitating disease.

WHAT TO DO?
Wear light colored clothing, stay on the trails, and use DEET for you and Farnam BiteFree or other repellent for your animals. Perform a thorough tick check when you get home.

MORE INFO
To see all the information posted about Lyme Disease, and ticks in our area, and how to deal with them, just type in Lyme in the search function at the top of this page.

AUBURN, Calif. April 30, 2019 – Placer County is seeking community input at two upcoming public workshops to help develop the first-ever countywide Parks and Trails Master Plan draft.
Community members are invited to provide feedback on a draft of the plan as focus group participants at upcoming meetings set for May 7 in Kings Beach and May 15 in North Auburn.
Additional opportunities to provide feedback on the plan will be available at upcoming municipal advisory council meetings or online at placerparksplan.com. A schedule of plan presentations at MAC and public meetings is available at the Parks and Trails Master Plan website: placerparksplan.com/get-involved/.
When complete the plan will provide a 10-year vision for the development and operation of parks, recreation opportunities, open space and trail networks in the county.
The plan is intended to reflect the recreational needs of individual communities, such as league play demands in Granite Bay and Loomis, and the need for connected trails for summer and indoor recreation during the winter in eastern Placer County.
“This is a unique opportunity to get involved and help guide the future of recreation in Placer County for generations to come,” said Placer County Parks Administrator Andy Fisher. “We are excited to get public input and go forward with confidence that we are investing in the highest recreational priorities that will create the best experiences and memories for our citizens and visitors. That can only happen if our communities make their voice heard.”
The draft plan reflects community input provided over a two-year planning process through a series of public workshops, online surveys, focus groups and municipal advisory council meetings, to name a few.
Feedback received indicated high support for paved and dirt trails, natural areas and new and improved facilities particular to each community. The results also affirmed that the park and trail projects already in development in the county are consistent with communities’ desired improvements.
A summary of the Parks and Trails Master Plan public survey responses is available here.
Those interested in participating in the workshop are encouraged to RSVP to gmontecallo@designworkshop.com or call 775-588-5929.

CLICK HERE to see the original article in Yubanet.net

UPDATED 4/24/2019:
This dark colored rattlesnake is a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake - Crotalus oreganus oreganus. One of these has been spotted three times by Sterling Pointe Equestrian Staging. A hiker and close neighbors said these are new to the area, and they have only seen one. But, when the hiker tossed some pebbles to move the snake off the trail, the snake turned and chased him. This is unusual and aggressive behavior, quite unlike our local, larger, light brown and buff colored rattlesnakes, who are easily moved along. Be aware that these darker snakes may be aggressive. Stay away from them.
​ 
ORIGINAL POSTING 4/11/2019
A hiker by Sterling Pointe staging at Folsom Lake SRA yesterday saw two rattlesnakes sunning themselves. The snake season is starting, so beware, rattlesnakes are leaving their dens and looking for something to eat and bask in the sun. Hikers should be wearing boots and long loose pants; mt. bikers slow down so you don't run over them (and get bit in the process), and equestrians should really listen to their horses who can hear and smell them way before their riders can.

SNAKE FACTS
Most people bitten by rattlesnakes have inadvertently stepped or ridden over them. They detect movement by sensing vibrations in the ground. Their eyes see well even in low light. Rattlesnake bites can be dangerous but are very rarely fatal to humans. With proper medical treatment, including antivenin, bites are usually not serious.

The smaller the snake, the more deadly, as they haven't learned how to measure out their venom. Young rattlesnakes do not yet have their rattles, though they are as dangerous as adults, according to the National Park Service at Yosemite. Furthermore, some adults may lose their rattles, so it is a good idea look out for the triangular head. And, especially in Folsom Lake and Auburn SRAs, a percentage of the rattlesnakes don't rattle at all.

After the rattle, rattlesnakes’ most distinctive physical feature is their triangular head. Also, they have vertical pupils, like cat’s eyes.

Generation after generation of rattlesnakes will use the same dens, sometimes for more than 100 years. Upon leaving their dens, they like to sun themselves on rocks and other open places. Though they are not nocturnal, in the hot summer months they may be more active at night.
​
Despite their venom, rattlesnakes are no match for California King snakes, which are fond of putting them on their dinner menus. DON'T KILL CALIFORNIA KING SNAKES! (picture below the rattlesnake.)

Here is a RATTLESNAKE:

​Below are safe and desirable CALIFORNIA KING SNAKES:

PLACERVILLE, Calif. April 15, 2019 – Organized by the Work for Warriors program, a 40 hour basic Firefighting course is being taught April 15 -19, 2019 by U.S. Forest Service Fire staff at the Work for Warriors facility in Sacramento. The Eldorado National Forest has collaborated with the Work for Warriors staff since 2015 to coordinate and build a basic firefighting program that trains our veterans in wildland firefighting. Work for Warriors (WFW) is a state and federally funded free job placement program in California. The intent of the Work for Warriors program is aimed at assisting post 9/11 Veterans, active National Guard, active Reserve members, Spouses, and Gold Star Families in finding civilian employment in their region of California. This program has been instrumental in helping veterans obtain jobs with the U.S. Forest Service on the Eldorado, Tahoe, and Plumas National Forests as wildland firefighters.

Students learn the basic concepts of wildland fire, topography, fuels, weather, safety, the Incident Command System, and suppression techniques in the classroom. Students are also in the field for a full day on the Tahoe National Forest working with the tools and techniques for fighting wildland fire.

Tonya Blasingame from the Eldorado National Forest and Jecobie Waters from the Tahoe National Forest have been the main Forest Service coordinators to build this program over the last 5 years. This program helps our veterans to transition back into civilian careers as civil servants in the wildland firefighting community. Because of their previous federal service they are able to move into the Forest Service relatively easily.
​
For more information Work for Warrior’s program go to http://workforwarriors.org. Visit the Eldorado National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/eldorado to learn about your local national forest.

CLICK HERE to see the original article at Yubanet.



https://yubanet.com/regional/eldorado-national-forest-collaborating-to-help-put-veterans-to-work/

The Placer County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved 3-0, with District 3 Supervisor Jim Holmes absent and District 5 Seat vacant, an amendment to the Bear River Campground fee schedule, in order to help offset operating costs and improve visitor experience through higher-level service. Reservations may be obtained before June 8 at the current rates.

Bear River Campground is a 192-acre campsite in Colfax operated and maintained by Placer County under a 25-year lease agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which owns the property. The campground features 23 individual campsites and one group campsite that can be rented in its entirety or one half of the site at a time.

Under the new schedule, nightly rates to reserve the individual family campsites would increase from $10 to $24. Reservation of the full group camp site would go from $75 to $120, and reservation of ½ of the group site would go from $40 to $80. The new fee schedule will include an $8 non-refundable reservation fee, intended to discourage multiple bookings by the same party. The new fee schedule also includes an increase in daily fees for both individual sites and the group site. The new fee schedule will include an $8 non-refundable reservation fee, consistent with local state and federal campgrounds.

The increased fees are the next step in a process to improve visitor experience that included a new online reservation system launched in 2018. The new online reservation system replaced the old first-come-first-served walk-in system for individual sites and phone-in system for the group site, giving campers assurance of site availability and allowing for greater tracking and accountability.

The new fee schedule is anticipated to generate $70,000 in revenue per year, which can be used to support the cost of the new reservation system and increasing ranger presence. Parks staff is also exploring options to add a full-time camp host during the camping season.

“The new fees are considerably lower than comparable campgrounds in Northern California and will remain below average even after the adjustments,” said Andy Fisher Placer County Parks Division Administrator. “While Placer County is not looking to be enriched off of fees, they were so low in comparison to other local campgrounds that we began witnessing some opportunists taking advantage of the low rates to stay for the wrong reasons. The new rates better reflect the value of this outstandingly beautiful riverfront site and will be injected directly back into the campground to better serve our vacationing guests."

The new fee schedule is set to begin for all reservations placed after June 7. Reservations may be obtained before June 8 at the current rates.
Bear River Campground online reservations are available, here. 

"The project plan calls for the addition of extensive public trails, a new trailhead for the ASRA, A propose memorial forest, with an innovative forest revenue model, high-quality, diverse, mature forests, a wildfire corridor, and a potential fire break between subdivisions in high-risk areas that is slated for development."

Auburn April 10, 2019 – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced the Department has awarded over $63 million in grants for 16 landscape-scale, regionally-based projects aimed at promoting healthy and resilient forests that protect and enhance forest carbon sequestration.

Placer Land Trust received an award of $1,300,700 for the Butler Property Fee Title Acquisition and Conservation Easement. The acquisition in fee title is for a 192-acre forest property in Foresthill spanning the North Fork and Middle Fork American River Canyons. The conservation easement is to be granted to CAL FIRE. The property is adjacent to Auburn State Recreation Area (ASRA), Federal lands, and a passed conservation project with the same landowner.

The project plan calls for the addition of extensive public trails, a new trailhead for the ASRA, A propose memorial forest, with an innovative forest revenue model, high-quality, diverse, mature forests, a wildfire corridor, and a potential fire break between subdivisions in high-risk areas that is slated for development.
​
CAL FIRE’s Forest Health program restores California’s forestlands through a suite of active management approaches including thinning of overly dense and, in some cases, pest-impacted forests; use of prescribed fire for ecological restoration and to reduce hazardous fuel loads; reforestation of forests diminished by fire, drought, insects and disease; and capacity support for forest management, wood processing and biomass utilization.

“These landscape-level Forest Health projects complement the immediate actions to prevent and mitigate wildfires that CAL FIRE proposed in its recent “45-Day Report” to Governor Gavin Newsom. Together, our investments will help make our forests more resilient, reducing the risk of wildlife and the resulting loss of carbon, while also improving ecosystem health,” said Angie Lottes, CAL FIRE’s Assistant Deputy Director for Climate and Energy.

The CAL FIRE Forest Health program is part of California Climate Investments (CCI), a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment- particularly in disadvantaged communities. Within the next month, CAL FIRE expects to award and additional $37 million for Fire Prevention projects and $2.5 million for scientific research into forest health issues. Both programs are also part of the California Climate Investments suite of programs. California Air Resources Board released the 2019 CCI Annual Report to the California State Legislature yesterday.

Click here for the list of Fiscal Year 18/19 Forest Health grant recipients.

CLICK HERE to see the original article in Yubanet.net