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Newly repaired Buttermilk Bend Trail reopened

4/22/2025

April 22, 2025 - - written and photo by The Union Staff Writer Marianne Boll-See
The Buttermilk Bend Trail is one of Nevada County’s best places to take in spring wildflowers, and the entire trail reopened recently visitors to enjoy. Fifteen months ago the public was notified of the trail’s closure due to a winter storm washout that made the trail unstable and impassable.

It was not a simple fix, according to Rob Griffith, the district superintendent for California State Parks Sierra District, which includes South Yuba River State Park, where the Bridgeport Buttermilk Bend Trail is located as well as 16 other parks across six counties.
“About a year ago storm damage caused a slight landslide-type failure,” Griffith said. “It was right down to where the bedrock was.”

The Buttermilk Bend Trail is accessible according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“We had to make sure whatever the repair, it was going to be safe and sustainable for the long term,” Griffith said. “We did bring in a geotechnical engineering firm to give us advice on how to anchor whatever we were going to do on the trail.”

The new “bridge will be great for decades to come,” Griffith said.
The new bridge has been installed at approximately a half of a mile into the Buttermilk Bend Trail, a gentle and nearly level path winding its way along the river for approximately 1.2 miles.
This trail starts across the river from the visitors center next to the Bridgeport Covered Bridge with a separate parking lot and kiosk.

More than 100 wildflower species are seen on the trail featuring California poppies, lupine, larkspur, fiddlenecks, popcorn flowers, the white globe lily, and lace pod. The spectacular explosion of color begins in early March and lasts until mid-May. The large black and blue Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies may also be seen fluttering from wildflower to wildflower by visitors, hikers, and day-picnickers.

The signage at the trailhead states the level of difficulty for the trail, and the first .7 miles of it can be accessed with a wheelchair. The information shows a 3% to a maximum of 9% slope on portions of the trail, and also the surface of the trail, which is soil. The width of the trail ranges from three to four feet wide and it looks down to the boulders and river below.

There are other beautiful areas to explore at the South Yuba River State Park including the Point Defiance loop and Cemetery loop at Bridgeport, the Independence and Hoyt trails at the Highway 49 crossing, and the South Yuba Trail that heads upstream from Purdon Crossing.
“For those who don’t happen to already have a park pass or don’t want to pay the daily pass fee, they can go to their local public library, just like checking out a book, they can check out a California State Parks pass and come to the park for free,” Griffith said.

To see the complete article and more photos in The Union Newspaper, CLICK HERE.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed away significant control of the Interior Department to DOGE on April 17, 2025

4/21/2025

The Interior Department is supposed to oversee 400 national parks and historic sites, uphold treaty rights with over 500 recognized Native American tribes, manage more than 500 million acres of land and conserve the country’s fish and wildlife.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed away significant control of the Interior Department in a secretarial order Thursday night. The order gives a DOGE operative, Tyler Hassen, the power to oversee the Interior Department for “consolidation, unification and optimization of administrative functions.”

A presidential memorandum signed late last week won’t help fill the important job vacancies including Superintendents in more than 400 national parks and historic sites. President Trump extended his January hiring freeze through July 15.

It directs Hassen, DOGE’s assistant secretary of policy, management and budget, to make funding decisions, fire employees, create policy, oversee programs and transfer funds. Hassen is a former oil executive who worked for Basin Energy, an oil field equipment company, before joining the Trump administration.

The order grants broad powers to Hassen. It doesn’t require Hassen to report to Burgum, or give Burgum veto power of any of Hassen’s decisions — including the potential firing of thousands of public lands managers or park rangers. According to reporting in the Washington Post, Hassen is reviewing any grants and contracts worth more than $50,000.

It’s unclear whether an agency leader can legally delegate authority to DOGE, a federal initiative that is not actually a government department established by Congress.

“This order shows what it looks like when leaders abdicate their jobs and let unqualified outsiders fire thousands of civil servants who are working on behalf of all Americans and their public lands,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy organization, in a statement.

Efforts to consolidate the National Park Service have already been underway for months. Recent chaos at the National Park Service has led to crucial positions being lost and going unfilled, including top leaders at monuments and parks across the country. As many as 100 superintendent positions had gone vacant, according to Kati Schmidt, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting national parks. The parks group has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s approach to the National Park Service, speaking out about policies it says will hurt the parks and those who visit them.

Park superintendents manage all operations, resources and employees in their park. They’re also responsible for protecting the natural and cultural resources of their park or national monument.
The superintendent vacancies are due to a combination of factors: positions that were vacant before the Trump administration that now can’t be filled due to a hiring freeze, people who resigned, people who took a voluntary buyout offer, people who retired early and people who were fired. Those who took early retirement offers had their last day on April 18.

Yosemite’s superintendent, Cicely Muldoon, sent her resignation notice to staff a week before Donald Trump’s inauguration. An acting superintendent is currently overseeing the park, but no one has been named as a replacement.

A presidential memorandum signed late last week won’t help fill the important job vacancies across more than 400 national parks and historic sites, Schmidt said. President Trump extended his January hiring freeze through July 15.

“No Federal civilian position that is presently vacant may be filled, and no new position may be created, except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or required by applicable law,” it states.

“This will make things even more difficult for the NPS,” Schmidt said in an email.

Former superintendents agreed with Schmidt’s assessment. “The loss of upwards of 100 park superintendents (not to mention several regional directors) results in a significant loss of institutional knowledge within the National Park Service,” Jeff Mow, the superintendent of Glacier National Park between 2013 and 2022, wrote in an email.

Mow said the loss of superintendents extends outside just the national park itself. “As the primary contact for their local communities, businesses that operate in the park, external partners and stakeholders, superintendents have to develop these relationships over time,” Mow wrote in an email. “From my experience, trust is generally not readily transferable from one individual to another.”

Vacant leadership positions are just the tip of the iceberg in jobs that are no longer getting done at the National Park Service under Trump. The National Parks Conservation Association is estimating that about 2,500 employees have resigned or taken early buyout offers, though final numbers are still being confirmed. That’s on top of the approximately 1,000 employees who were fired on Valentine’s Day, some of whom have gotten their jobs back — for now.

CLICK HERE to see the complete article and more photos in SF Gate News.

Western States Trail Foundation Acquires Robie Equestrian Park to Secure Start for the Tevis Cup 100-Mile Ride

4/11/2025

The Western States Trail Foundation (WSTF) is proud to announce the acquisition of Robie Equestrian Park, a landmark move that will ensure a consistent and permanent starting point for the foundation’s key event: the iconic Tevis Cup 100-Mile Ride.

Robie Equestrian Park is a 160-acre horse camp and outdoor sport staging area previously owned by the Wendell & Inez Robie Foundation. The park is named in memory of Wendell Robie, who founded the 100-mile Western States Trail Ride – or ‘Tevis Cup’ – in 1955.

Acquiring Robie Equestrian Park is a monumental step in preserving the Tevis Cup and the Western States Trail,” said Tony Benedetti, President of the Western States Trail Foundation. “This acquisition ensures that future generations will have access to this historic trail and that there will be a reliable, consistent starting point for this prestigious event.”

Preserving the History of the West
Located east of Truckee, CA, Robie Equestrian Park marks the start of the historic Western States Trail. In addition to the Tevis Cup, the Western States Trail also hosts several ultramarathons including the foundational 100-mile Western States Run, which originated out of the equestrian event.
The trail follows a rugged route from the base of the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe along an immigrant trail that ends in Auburn. It traverses the scenic mountain peaks and valleys of the Sierra foothills and crosses several tributaries to the American River on its way. The Western States Trail Foundation has pledged to preserve the rich history of this trail, hallowed by the Washoe and Maidu tribes and traveled by explorers, settlers, and gold-seekers.

Securing the Future of Endurance Riding
The Tevis Cup is universally regarded as one of the most demanding endurance rides in the world, testing the stamina, skill and perseverance of both horse and rider.

About the Western States Trail Foundation - The Western States Trail Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and stewardship of the Western States Trail and – as part of that – staging the Tevis Cup 100 Mile Ride. Founded in 1977, the foundation plays a vital role in ensuring that the historic trail remains accessible for equestrians, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts. In addition to managing the Tevis Cup, the WSTF supports a variety of educational and preservation initiatives to protect this invaluable resource.

To read the original Press Release from the WST, CLICK HERE.

'Much more difficult': Cuts leave Calif. sections of Pacific Crest Trail in shambles

4/10/2025

Anyone planning to hike the Pacific Crest Trail — the famed 2,650-mile hiking route that stretches from Mexico to Canada and typically takes almost half a year to complete — should prepare for an especially challenging trail this year, thanks to repair delays brought on by federal funding freezes.

The PCT will be especially challenging this year due to Trump's funding cuts

Several portions of the trail throughout California are in desperate need of repair, according to Justin Kooyman, director of trail operations for the Pacific Crest Trail Association. In some sections, storm damage has washed away the trail entirely. Complicating the situation are federal funding freezes and staff reductions in several land management agencies brought on by the Donald Trump administration.

Kooyman said it’s left the PCTA’s maintenance backlog severely hampered, causing the association to cancel over 50 weeks of upcoming repair work.

“Hikers should be prepared for sections of the PCT that require them to navigate around downed trees, push through thick brush that has grown into the trail and navigate sections where it is difficult to find the trail tread,” Kooyman told SFGATE via email. “It’s going to be a rougher and more challenging trail experience than many people have come to expect.”

Among the most impacted legs of the PCT in California is a section within the Riverside County desert where Tropical Storm Hilary severely damaged the trail in 2023. Kooyman said hikers need to be “adept with route finding” near Mission Creek.

According to the association’s State of the Trail webpage for Southern California, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management were granted emergency funding to repair trails near Mission Creek, but the work will be delayed until 2026 due to federal funding freezes.

Elsewhere, portions of the trail in Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness have been heavily impacted by downed trees. Maintenance projects planned for last year were canceled due to wildfires, according to Kooyman. “Now, in 2025, many of the planned projects to clear the downed trees likely won’t happen due to agency staff layoffs and recent funding freezes,” he said.

Federal funding for trail maintenance projects was historically secured through partnerships with federal land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service. In February, PCTA wrote in a blog post that the Forest Service had informed it of a delay in federal grant funding due to the Trump administration’s plans to reduce federal spending.

As federal land management units across the country continue to be gutted, the future of the PCT and other thru-hikes are hanging in the balance. “It will be a much more difficult hiking experience that will challenge many hikers,” Kooyman said.

CLICK HERE to see the original article and more photos in SF GATE.

California's national forests targeted for commercial logging

4/8/2025

Parts of national forests along the Sierra and near Lake Tahoe are also highlighted as priorities for logging activities.
A memo from the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture released last week outlines the Trump administration’s plans to quickly expand logging operations in the country’s national forests, which could dramatically reshape the landscape of popular recreation areas in California.
A month after President Donald Trump released an executive order calling for the “immediate expansion of American Timber Production,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has laid out what steps the U.S. Forest Service will take to do so. This includes lifting protections on more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, expediting the process for logging in these areas.
“The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources,” Rollins wrote in the memo, dated April 3.
The memo serves as an emergency situation declaration that designates 112,646,000 acres, or 59% of all national forest lands, as a priority for immediate logging. The memo indicates wildfire risk, declining forest health and the risk of increased tree mortality from insects or disease as some of the reasons for the new emergency declaration. The memo notably does not list climate change among the risks facing the nation’s forests.

The declaration exempts the designated forest areas from an environmental review step that allows for objections from outside groups and limits the number of alternative actions that the agency can review when considering logging projects. The declaration also directs the Forest Service to streamline “all processes related to timber production” and “issue new or updated guidance to increase timber production.”

Trump’s March executive order called for a 25% increase in timber production from the nation’s forest, and a map released by the USDA last week suggests that much of this might come from California and elsewhere in the West. The majority of Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests in Southern California are highlighted in blue as priority landscapes for logging on the map, as is much of Los Padres National Forest, which stretches from near Ojai up the Central Coast and also encompasses the mountains along Big Sur. Parts of national forests along the Sierra and near Lake Tahoe are also highlighted as priorities for logging activities.

“More logging will cause widespread devastation of our public forests locally and across the country,” said ForestWatch executive director Jeff Kuyper in a news release.

“Trump’s order won’t protect us from wildfire, but it will most certainly line the pockets of timber industry executives, undermine science and environmental protection laws, and bring us one step closer to privatizing our public lands.”
Opening up California’s national forests for commercial logging in the immediate future is just the latest change to public lands in the state during the Trump administration. National parks like Channel Islands and Yosemite are in a state of chaos and crisis due to federal funding cuts and job terminations, and the future of two national monuments designated at the end of the Biden administration also seems uncertain.
To see the complete article and photos in SF Gate, click here.
www.sfgate.com/la/article/california-national-forests-logging-20263873.php

What You Need To Know About 4,000 Campsites Closing across California

4/2/2025

The National Park Services (NPS) and U.S. Forest Services (USFS) are currently short-staffed following mass layoffs under the Trump Administration's federal budget cuts. The sudden firings began on Valentine's Day and have since posed concerns about shutdowns of national parks.

A month after the terminations, more park service sites announced hour reductions and campground closures. About 4,000 campsites are set to close this summer, with layoffs expected to continue until April.

Here's everything you should know about these adjustments and the uncertainties behind them, so you can plan your camping trips accordingly.

About 4,000 Campsites Are Set To Close Across California Alone
Many California campsites may close partially or the entire summer
On March 5, the New York Times reported that about 4,000 campsites are set to close this summer in California. 18 national forests could close for parts or the whole season. Yosemite National Park has also resumed advanced limited campground reservations for summer.

Some of the USFS areas affected by the campsite closures in California this summer:

Financial limitations and understaffing are a recipe for maintenance chaos, making the impacted areas "unsafe" in the upcoming high season. Other recreational activities, like hiking, may also be affected by these federal decisions.

For instance, the Pacific Crest Trail—a 2,650-mile trail spanning from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington—faces safety concerns amid funding delays as its $667,000 federal grant is reportedly frozen. One million hikers take this popular route each year.
Over 4,000 NPS And USFS Workers Were Fired Under Trump's Federal CutsU.S. national forests and parks are losing important personnel3,400 USFS staff (10% of its total workforce) and 1,000 NPS employees (5% of the agency's crew) were laid off under the Trump Administration's hiring freeze. 5,000 significant seasonal workers were also let go.
California was hit hard by the cuts, with at least 84 valuable NPS personnel fired during the sweeping reductions. According to the POTUS, the downsizing is necessary as the government is "bloated" and "sloppy" with "a lot of people that aren't doing their job."
The White House released a memo, claiming: "The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public."

However, conservation experts anticipate these terminations could cause irreversible damage to protected natural areas. Joshua Tree National Park faces near-future wildlife extinctions following the removal of 400 Fish and Wildlife Service members.

Reinstated NPS And USFS Employees Are Not Getting Their Jobs BackRehired U.S. forest and park workers are being placed on leaveMany "illegally" fired national park employees have been reinstated following a judge's order in mid-March. However, some rehired workers revealed that they were either placed on administrative leave or offered an early retirement upon return.
On March 25, Fortune published a story about those who decided to leave their government positions despite the legal reinstatement. While there were "full pay and benefits" in those leaves, many of the workers opted out as they truly believed in the significance of their jobs.
Eric Anderson, a biological science technician in Indiana Dunes National Park, was excited to get his job back. However, he admitted to hearing about "weird" changes within their crew.
"I've heard that some people's positions have changed from doing what they normally do to doing something completely weird and different," Anderson explained. "It'll be interesting going back and seeing if stuff still changes by the day."

In light of these unpredictable operational changes, visitors are advised to keep themselves informed of the USFS and NPS announcements. For those planning to camp during the busy summer season, make sure to make reservations in advance (if available) and keep yourself updated with your chosen park's warnings.

CLICK HERE to see the original article and photos in TheTravel.com