The Harden fire from Tuolumne Meadows at 8pm. It is that large plume of orange smoke center to right.

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Agency Name: American Indian Council of Mariposa County, Inc. (Southern Sierra Miwok)

Project Name: Indian Cultural Center

Description: An Indian Cultural Center would be established by the American Indian Council of Mariposa County, Inc. (Southern Sierra Miwok) at the site of the last-occupied Indian village in Yosemite Valley (west of Camp 4 [Sunnyside Campground]). This center would provide a location for culturally associated Indian people to conduct traditional ceremonies and to practice and teach techniques of traditional lifeways. While the center would be open to the public, access might be limited during special ceremonies. Some public interpretation would occur, but this cultural center would not replace the primary educational function of the current Indian Village of Ahwahnee at Yosemite Village.

Yosemite Fires,  Update #13,  June 29, 2009
Fire activity increased over the weekend on the Grouse and Harden fires in Yosemite National Park.  The Grouse Fire (250 acres) is about seven miles southwest of Yosemite Valley and north of Glacier Point Road.  The Harden Fire (111 acres) is on the north side of the park, west of Harden Lake and northwest of White Wolf.  The two fires are being managed to achieve both protection and resource objectives.     The objectives for the fires include preventing fire growth outside defined management areas, restoring fire dependent forest systems, managing smoke production, protecting wildlife habitat and preserving cultural and natural resources.  To achieve these objectives, fire personnel employ a variety of strategies and techniques such as building fire line, blacklining control lines, using aerial resources when necessary to slow fire progression and monitoring and patrolling.      

Smoke Alert from fires! Today is a spare the air day in California from the the high pressure that has built over the state. This has caused above normal temperatures and bad air pollution. This combined with smoke from fires in portions of Yosemite has caused some very bad air and will probably get worse from these fires.

The fires were caused by lightning several weeks ago and then we had rain and below normal temperatures in Yosemite that almost put the fires out.With the recent dry weather and high temperatures, in the 90's, the fires have rekindled and are growing.

The largest fire is the Grouse Creek Fire which is between Hwy 41 and the Glacier Point road at the west end of Yosemite Valley. It has really kicked up the last couple of days and is spewing out a lot of smoke. NPS is considering closing the Phono Trail on the south rim and was doing helicopter bucket drops on it yesterday.

Another fire is by White Wolf somewhere on Hwy 120 and has also produced a lot of smoke in that area. I saw another fire in the Ten Lakes area but this is only producing a small amount of smoke.

These fires are "Let Burn" since they were naturally caused and will probably be around for awhile.

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Yosemite is one of the country's most visited and beloved national parks, and for good reason. Spectacular waterfalls, massive rock edifices and beautiful forests should inspire even the most hard core city lover to strap on a pair of boots and go for a hike.

Unfortunately all this popularity means that backpacking in the park is highly regulated and can require permit reservations months in advance for the most popular trails; for example, permits for entering at Happy Isles (the start of the John Muir Trail) can get booked to capacity within a few hours of becoming available.

The way around this problem is to take advantage of the Yosemite's first-come first-serve permits which the park makes available every day for entry on the following day. Multiple wilderness permit stations within the park offer these permits and each station has priority over the closest trails (although each station can issue a permit for any trail within the park, if available). Since 40% of all entry permits are held for first-come first-serve users, chances are good that you can get a permit if you arrive early; most permit stations open at 8 or 9am. As an added bonus, Yosemite offers several free backpackers campgrounds which are available if you receive a permit; these are extremely useful for killing that extra night before being allowed to enter the backcountry on the following day.

The Grouse Creek Fire on Hwy 41 has really kicked up today with smoke visible from many areas.  Here is the NPS report on this fire from 6/4 and it looks like they may just let it burn. With near record temperatures forecast in the coming days look for the fire to grow.

From 6/4/09 Yosemite Daily Report

"For the purposes of federal land and resource agencies, there are now two
kinds of fire: planned (prescribed fire), and unplanned (wildfire). The
Grouse fire began as a lightning caused fire and is an unplanned fire. A
wildland fire, or portions of a wildland fire, may be concurrently managed
for one or more objectives (e.g. costs, safety, resource benefits, etc.).
Those objectives, and the ability of a fire to meet those objective's, can
change as the fire spreads across the landscape. Yosemite is assessing the
Grouse fire following a decision support process that examines the full
range of potential responses. A good deal of the effort under the policy
is in planning during these kinds of fires, through the Wildland Fire
Decision Support System (WFDSS).

By Jamie Simons for PeterGreenberg.com.
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In 1985, Dale Soria went to Yosemite National Park on a trans-Sierra ski trip.

Twenty-two years later, he’s still there.

Dale Soria is a dentist and when he learned that the only dentist working in Yosemite was retiring, he took his place.

At the time, he, his wife Catherine and their three children were living in the California Central Valley town of Merced.

But when the opportunity to live among the towering granite walls of Yosemite presented itself, they packed up everything and moved. “My father was in the military,” says Catherine Soria. “And when I was young we lived in Japan. We lived in a farming community and got to wander wherever we wanted. It was a magical time and I wanted that for my children.”

A teacher, Catherine took a job at the elementary school that sits on the valley floor. Today she is the principal. At its height, the school had about 100 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. But because family housing is the park’s most valuable commodity, today’s enrollment is down to about 30 students.

Beautiful days in Yosemite with a warm up coming and it could get in the high 90's later this week. The waterfalls are still flowing nicely, even better than previous years since we had such a cool and wet spring.

The entrance gate lines are not to bad and even over the weekend with the free entrance fee that did not get horrible like they did over Memorial Day. Yosemite Village, Yosemite Falls straight away and the ususal places get quite congested by mid day. Tuolumne Meadows has not been croweded at all and now that it has warmed up it is a great escape from the heat.

Half Dome 6/23/09

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SAVE THE DATE for the Yosemite El Portal Music Festival
-- Saturday, August 8th, 6 pm to 12 midnight, Clark Community Hall --

EPCA brings you the El Portal Music Festival, featuring two sets of Radio
Devi, (check them out at www.myspace.com/radiodevi or
http://virtunes.bandcamp.com/album/radio-devi). These amazing musicians
from the SF Bay will be supported by our local favorites the Adam Burns
band, and two live DJ sets! The entrance fee is $15, and 100% of all
profits will be used toward improving our Community Hall. As usual, YEA
will provide their famous beverage service and delicious food will be for
sale.

If you are interested in participating as a food vendor or volunteer, or if
you have any other general questions regarding EPMF, please email our board
at: elportalcommunityhall@gmail.com

Glacier Point Road Rehabilitation

June 22, drainage work is scheduled to begin, so please prepare for up to 30-minute delays when traveling on the Glacier Point Road and the Wawona
Road around the Chinquapin Intersection. Traffic is scheduled to be released on the hour and ½ hour interval with flaggers and pilot cars.

June 22, the restroom at the Chinquapin Intersection is also scheduled for closure as crews begin work around the parking lot/Wawona Road intersection.
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Be prepared for huge lines of very slow traffic as 30 minutes of traffic hold up will stop maybe hundreds of cars.