Yosemite Daily Report for June 13

Daily Report - Yosemite National Park
Monday, June 13, 2011
 
WEATHER 
 
Yosemite Valley
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming west between 8 and 11 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 8 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming west between 6 and 9 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. West wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. 
El Portal  
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming west between 6 and 9 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North northwest wind at 10 mph becoming east.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 5 and 8 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. West wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.
 
Wawona
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming west between 6 and 9 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. West northwest wind at 8 mph becoming east.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming west between 5 and 8 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53. West wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.  

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HAPPENING TODAY
 


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The Four Mile Trail is now open from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point. (N. Chakrin - 4/13)

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The General Services Administration is conducting an internet auction of Yosemite personal property  consisting of a box van, one lot of 17 transformers, a gear driven winch and a ventilator blower.  For further information regarding the sale items or to register to bid, visit the website gsaauctions.gov. Sale number 91QSI11278 lots 325 to 328.  The sale will close on June 16, 2011.  An appointment must be made with Don Ramsey (379-1024) prior to inspection, no exceptions (serious bidders only). Park employees must view the items and bid on their own time. Park employees are allowed to participate in the sale, with the exception of any employee with unfair (nonpublic) detailed knowledge or prior use of an item offered for sale. Such employees are prohibited from bidding on that item, and the prohibition includes their immediate family as well. (D. Ramsey - 6/13)
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PARK AND PARK PARTNER NEWS  
Yosemite National Park Begins Work on Pavement Preservation Project; Work to Occur in El Portal, Hodgdon Meadow, and Foresta Areas - news release
Scott Gediman 209-372-0248
Kari Cobb 209-372-0529
Yosemite National Park will begin work on several park roads, beginning next Monday, June 13, 2011.  The majority of the work will occur in the El Portal area, including Old El Portal, Rancheria, El Portal Trailer Court, the El Portal office areas, and the El Portal Road.  Work will also include the Hodgdon Meadow area, residential and administrative roads, as well as the main entrance road to Foresta.  The general scope of the project includes applying a seal coat over many of the existing asphalt roads, either a chipseal or microseal.  Additional work includes crack sealing, pothole repairs, and a thin overlay.  Once the seals have been placed, restriping of the preserved roads will occur.  
Traffic control, with 15 minute delays, will be in effect starting June 13 th  between 5:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday in areas where the work is occurring.  Pilot cars and/or flaggers will be used to guide traffic through the work zones.  The schedule may change due to weather conditions, and the public will be notified if changes to the schedule occur.  Park employees and areas residents may be asked to move their vehicles and/or equipment for work to occur in parking areas and near residences. This project is being funded by the National Park Service and the Federal Highways Administration. The overall project completion date is August 26, 2011. (K. Cobb - 6/10)

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EMPLOYEE NEWS
This week's topic is Back-country Operations.  Hopefully we will all have an opportunity to go into the back-country of this amazing place even if we have to wait until September for some areas to thaw out!  Review this topic and be sure to send your sign in sheet to our office.  The next binder of topics for July-Dec will be ready soon. (C. Roney - 6/13)

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ACTING DESIGNATIONS  
Dayna Jackson will be the Acting Administrative Officer from June 13 through June 22  while Dale St. Vincent is out of the office. Dayna can be reached at 379-1872.
Ed Walls will be the point of contact for the Tioga Road Corridor from June 13th thru 17th while Tony Brochini is on leave.
Carol Knipper is Acting Branch Chief for Anthropology on Monday June 13.
Ansley Rothell and Heather Cave will be the Acting Emergency Communications Center Manager from June 6th through June 12th.
Jim Roche will be acting branch chief of Physical Sciences and Landscape Ecology through August 25th.
Jay Shields will be Acting Mather District Ranger until further notice.
Brenna Lissoway (379-1283) will be the Acting Park Archivist while Paul Rogers is on a detail as the Acting Regional Archivist (PWR). If you have need to access the Archives, or have archive related questions, you can call 379-1282 or 379-1104.
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COMMUNITY NEWS
Room for Rent  
Master bedroom for rent in Midpines.  Very spacious house with woodstove, hardwood floors, and garage on seven acres.  Room has own bathroom and side door.  5388 Colorado Rd.  $600/mo.  Please contact Peter Kingham at 209-742-3646 and leave message. (P. Kingham - 6/10)
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Sierra Earth Fest
Summer is here, and Mountain Sage is all ready for their big events of the season: Sierra Earth Fest and the Mountain Sage Music Series! Check out our websites: www.sierraearthfest.org and www.mountainsagemusic.org for details! Sierra Earth Festival starts early Friday evening, with our keynote speaker, best-selling author and researcher, Brad Lancaster, speaking, garden style, at 7pm June 17th.  Brad will also be conducting a rainwater catchment workshop during the day Saturday June 18th (prior registration required), with a 3pm general audience "wrap-up" describing the new installation at the nursery.  For those of you into conserving water, conserving energy, gardening, or reducing your bills, don't miss his Friday night seminar! Saturday, June 18th is our free Sierra Earth Fest event at Mountain Sage with 43 activity booths and vendors, (yes the farmers market folks!) 13 speakers and seminars, 3 bands, and special guest dancing troupes and kids activities. We will conclude the evening with a "Live at the Sage" concert highlighting two young, energetic and extremely talented groups - The Brothers Comatose and The Jimbly Leg Band.  This will be one incredible show, so come on out and get a good Father's Day Weekend boogie on! (Robb - 6/10)

Yosemite changes campground reservations

Press release from Yosemite National Park:

  Yosemite National Park Announces Changes to the Campground Reservation

                                  System

  New Policies Implemented to Ensure Equity and Fairness to Park Visitors

Yosemite National Park announces three changes to the way in which visitors make camping reservations for campgrounds operated by the National Park Service (NPS) in the park.  These changes are being implemented in an effort to thwart and discourage misuse of the camping reservation system that all visitors currently use when making campground reservations within Yosemite National Park.

The first change will require all visitors checking into a campsite in the park to show identification upon arrival at the Campground Reservation Office.  Currently, campers do not need to present any form of identification to secure their reserved campsite.  However, this new identification policy is being implemented to make sure that the person who arrives at the campground office is the same person who made the campground reservation.  This new procedure will commence for all check-ins beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

Also starting tomorrow, campground reservation holders will no longer be able to change the name of the person on the campground reservation.

Previously, the original name on the reservation could be changed online on the reservation contractor’s website.  This would not change any components of the existing reservation.  However, this change precludes the ability to change the name on a reservation once the reservation is made.  There is a

$10 cancellation fee for any reservation that is cancelled.  Further, the same reservation under a different name is not guaranteed.

The final change to the campground reservation system will be implemented later this summer.  This alteration will change the way in which cancelled reservations are released back into the system.  Currently, once a reservation is cancelled, the campsite is put back online to be purchased.

However, under the newly implemented system, the campsites that become available can only be reserved by calling the campground reservation phone number.  There is no date available for this change.

All campsites reserved in Yosemite National Park are reserved through a

contractor, Active Works.   The website is www.recreation.gov.  They can

also be reached at 1-877-444-6777.  The park is implementing these changes to ensure equity and fairness for visitors wishing to make a campsite reservation within Yosemite National Park.

                                   -NPS-

Kingfisher den found in Yosemite

The following is a press release from Yosemite National Park...and a pretty cool finding!

Yosemite National Park is home to more than 400 species of animals, including a number of species that qualify for listing under the Endangered Species Act.  The park provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife due to its undisturbed ecosystems in the Central Sierra Nevada.  Wildlife species in Yosemite range from aquatic invertebrates to large mammals.

One of the many mammals that roam Yosemite’s forests is the Pacific fisher (Martes pennanti).  The fisher, a medium-sized member of the weasel family, is a candidate species for listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.  Yosemite National Park, in conjunction with the U.C. Berkeley Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Program (SNAMP) Fisher Project, has successfully identified the park’s first Pacific fisher den.

The female Pacific fisher using this den was originally captured as a juvenile in October of 2009 in Sierra National Forest, directly south of the park.  SNAMP researchers have been able to continuously track this fisher using radio-telemetry since her initial capture.  After remaining near her capture site for almost a full year, she moved northward toward Yosemite.  This female fisher recently moved her kits (young) from their den in Sierra National Forest where they were born, to a den in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park.  This is typical behavior for a female fisher with newborn kits.  The female will likely move her kits one to two more times to different dens during the next month.

Female Pacific fishers can breed as early as one year of age, but most do not successfully reproduce until three years of age.  The fisher discovered at the park successfully had kits at two years old.  Following a gestation period of about 40 days, the female typically gives birth to one to three kits in a hollow cavity of a tree.  Kits are born blind and helpless, and completely dependent on their mother’s milk for the first 8 to 10 weeks.

Kits begin to crawl after about 3 weeks, can open their eyes after about 7 weeks, and can start to climb after 8 weeks.  At about 4 months, kits are more mobile and are able to travel with their mother on hunting trips.

Fisher eat small mammals such as mice and squirrels, and are even known to be one of the few animals to prey on porcupines. After approximately 5 to 7 months, the kits leave the maternal den and their mother and travel out of the territory of their birth and upbringing.

The Pacific fisher is a western subspecies that once ranged from British Colombia, south through Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and reached their southern extent in the Sierra Nevada.  Pacific fisher have declined to only 50 percent of their historical range in California, with only two native populations separated by approximately 260 miles remaining today.  One population is located around the western California-Oregon border, while the other is located in the southern Sierra Nevada in California.  Yosemite represents the northern boundary of the small and isolated southern Sierra Nevada population, which is estimated to be between 125 to 250 adults.

The Pacific fisher is threatened by low reproductive rates, reduced genetic diversity, predators, disease, and habitat degradation.  Trapping prior to

1946 also contributed to population decline.  Recently, road-kill has become a concern as several Pacific fisher have been found dead along the roadways in the park over the past decade after being hit by cars.

In order to promote continued fisher recovery, partnerships have developed between the NPS, the Yosemite Conservancy, U.C. Berkeley, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the California Department of Fish and Game.

This important recovery work has been made possible with support from Yosemite Conservancy, the Wilderness Society, and the Aspenwood Foundation.

For more information on Pacific fishers, please visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/fishers.htm

For more on Yosemite National Park and California's Gateway to Yosemite, Madera County: visit www.YosemiteThisYear.com

A fun fact

As many of you may know, this year's winter was quite prolific, dropping more snow than the region had seen in some time. The positives of this was a declaration of the end of the drought that has been on the minds of many people in California for years.

It's also been delaying the opening of several roads in Yosemite. We did some research, and in years where the snow pack has been 156% or greater, Tioga Road has no opened until late June. The latest opening of Tioga Pass we could find was July 1 1983, when the snow pack hit exactly 156%.

Last year we had a 107% snowpack, and a June 5 opening. But, we also hate late snow that fell the last week of May. With snow possible this weekend, it will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Yosemite road openings may be delayed by winter weather

This is a press release from Yosemite National Park. As we had expected, the prolific snows from this winter are hampering efforts to open Glacier Point and Tioga Roads. But the plus side, the waterfalls are amazing!

High Precipitation Levels May Delay Spring Openings in Yosemite National Park
Incredible Year to See Yosemite’s Waterfalls

Yosemite National Park is currently seeing the effects of a very heavy winter snow.  The May 1 snow survey, conducted by the California Department of Water Resources, reports the Merced River drainage at 199 percent of normal and the Tuolumne River drainage at 184 percent of normal.  This is one of the heaviest snow falls in recent history.  

The heavy winter snow, combined with a wet spring, has presented challenges to the Yosemite Road Crews who are working to clear the Glacier Point Road and the Tioga Road.  Although progress has been made on both roads, late openings should be expected, especially on the Tioga Road.  

The cables on Half Dome, used by hikers to ascend the summit of the granite monolith, have not been placed for the season.  The cables will be erected when the Trail Crews have safe access to Half Dome and can perform the work.  There is currently too much snow on Half Dome and the Subdome for the cables to be put in place.  Therefore, it is doubtful that the cables will be ready for use by the Memorial Day weekend.  

Yosemite’s waterfalls are spectacular, and the park is currently seeing near peak conditions.  Due to the large amount of snow still in the high-country, the waterfalls are expected to last longer into the summer season than normal.

Visitors within the park should be aware of high water level and fast moving water in the Merced River and other streams.  With the increasingly warm weather, snow in the high-country continues to melt and fill the Merced River.  Extreme caution is important when in proximity to any moving water.  

Visitors are urged to drive slowly within the park.  With the warmer weather, animals are more active and are prevalent along the roadways.  

-NPS-

One of the great thing about living in Madera County is the sheer number of artists throughout the region. We've been told the area boasts more artists per capita than anywhere else in country. Considering how many amazing works of art you can find at the numerous galleries throughout the region, we're inclined to believe that little stat. 

There are a couple of special events coming up in the art community that we thought we'd pass along.

During the next eight months a painting entitled "A Day At Fresno Flats" will journey to participating businesses and community sites in Oakhurst. This watercolor painting was donated by artist Diane Astier as a fundraiser for roof repairs in the Historic Village and Park at Fresno Flats.

Raffle tickets are $1.00 each and are available from SHSA Board members or businnesses where this painting is shown.  The drawing will be held in December 2011 at Fresno Flats.

The painting is on display at Sierra Telephone  business office at the present time, and will move to community sites throughout the coming months.

 
For further informatiion call: 683-7071.

The Madera County Arts Council will soon be resuming their popular concerts in the park series. These concerts in the beautiful Lions Town and Country Park. The concerts range through nearly every genre of music you can think of, from country to rock, blues to big band. They are a great way to meet up with friends, enjoy the beautiful settings and some great music, all for free.  

If you're looking for arts-related attractions, the Madera County Arts Council has just recently released their much-anticipated Cultural Arts map of Madera County. The beautiful brochure details popular attractions, and a few hidden gems, to help you get acquainted with all the amazing art opportunities throughout Madera County. You can pick it up at many attractions throughout the region, including our visitor centers in Oakhurst and at the Fossil Discovery Center in Chowchilla. It will soon be up on their website as well. The brochure serves as a great reminder that we live in an amazing area, and why so many people love to visit. 

Lots going on in California's Gateway to Yosemite

As I type this, the sun has returned, as well as that feel of spring.

Despite winter's little attempt and reminding us she can still return whenever she wants, there is so much going on throughout Madera County right now, and it serves to remind us how lucky we are to live here.

Right now in Oakhurst two groups have filled pretty much hotel room in the mountain area. The National Association of Women in Construction from throughout Central California are meeting here and really enjoying what the area has to offer. Also in town are hundreds of high school students and their parents competing in the Destination Imagination competition. Kids come together to learn team building and problem solving skills, helping their future and, because of the skills the develop, all of ours as well.

In Chowchilla you can experience the ways of the west as the annual Chowchilla Stampede is taking place. If you missed the annual cattle drive down Robertson Boulevard Thursday, you can still see plenty of rodeo action at the Chowchilla Fairgrounds today and tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the abilities of our federal legislators to come to an agreement has guaranteed that there will be no government shutdown, keeping Yosemite open. It's been all good news recently, and we're excited about life in California's Gateway to Yosemite. Come here for yourself, to see what we have to offer.