Latest news with #ForestService
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Handwritten notes, HAM radio help rescue mother, son lost in California forest
A 49-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son who found themselves stranded deep in the dense Stanislaus National Forest late last week left a trail of handwritten notes that helped their rescuers locate them, officials announced this week. On July 11, the pair traveled from the Sacramento area to Camp Wolfeboro for an overnight camping trip, officials with the Calavera County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. During their excursion, the 49-year-old was using a GPS unit that offered alternate routes to their destination along with more common ones. When the GPS unit lost its signal, the mother and son were already well inside a remote area of the forest and were unable to retrace their route back out. Rescue efforts unfolded on July 12 after a person reported that the woman and her son had not returned or called as expected. 'A deputy was dispatched to initiate a missing persons investigation, and the search and rescue team was deployed to begin search efforts,' officials said. 'The reporting party also provided a location obtained from a location-sharing app they previously used with the missing persons.' A command post was established in a recreational area off Highway 4 where team members began 'assessing the terrain and the complex network of interconnecting, labyrinth-like roads' to establish search parameters. During the early part of the rescue effort, a Forest Service Law Enforcement Ranger responded to a 911 text from a camper around Black Springs and Winton roads who said they'd seen a vehicle matching the missing persons report at around 4 p.m. the previous day. 'This information, along with data provided by the reporting party, confirmed that the teams were searching in the correct area,' officials said. While stranded with no GPS or cellphone signal, deputies said the pair took actions to increase the likelihood of being rescued, including using the vehicle's hazard lights at night. The 9-year-old also utilized an international signal for help by periodically using his whistle in three short bursts. Then there were the mother's handwritten notes. A search and rescue team spotted the first note at around 5:40 p.m. at the intersection of a forest service road. 'Help. Me and my son are stranded with no service and can't call 911,' the note read. 'We are ahead, up the road to the right. Please call 911 and get help for us.' California professor shot dead in Greece in apparent plot involving ex-wife Following the note's directions, rescuers spotted another note about a mile from the first, providing additional information, including the names of the missing pair and a telephone number. The mother and son were found about another mile from the second note. Because of the dense forest and canopy in the remote location, the rescue team was unable to communicate with the command post that the pair had safely been found. 'They utilized an amateur radio frequency, commonly known as HAM radio, to establish communication,' officials said. 'After broadcasting 'emergency traffic' on the HAM radio, their call was immediately answered by a retired El Dorado County Communications Supervisor who was a HAM operator monitoring frequencies from his home. This HAM operator then contacted the El Dorado 911 center, which provided the information to Calaveras Dispatch, and the SAR command post was notified.' The search and rescue crew assisted the mother and her son in driving back to the command post where their family was waiting for them. 'Of importance in the successful outcome was their pre-trip notification of telling someone where they were going and when to expect them back,' officials said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
The Grand Canyon Fire Has North Rim Residents Wary of the Future
Melinda Rich Marshall pointed her white S.U.V. toward a billowing tower of smoke on Tuesday and gunned it down the now-empty roads leading to the charred North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A few days earlier, she had joined hundreds of tourists and seasonal employees who fled a wildfire roaring through the parched sagebrush and ponderosa pines. Now, she was headed back to check on the Jacob Lake Inn, her family's 102-year-old lodge just outside Grand Canyon National Park. 'We don't know how we'll pay our employees,' Ms. Marshall, 43, said, looking toward months or years of economic losses as the park rebuilds from one of the most destructive fires in its history. 'What do we do? How do we live?' Residents like Ms. Marshall, along with Arizona's political leaders, are asking why the Dragon Bravo fire, sparked by lightning on July 4, was allowed to burn for days in hot, dry conditions before it exploded beyond containment lines and tore through the heart of the North Rim. Some are also demanding to know whether the Trump administration's budget freezes and Forest Service layoffs could be playing a role, not just at the Grand Canyon but at fires raging around national parks in Colorado and Washington as well. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
E&E News
6 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Forest Service considers ski resort expansion on Utah public lands
A portion of Utah's Dixie National Forest could be turned into ski slopes under a proposal under consideration by the Forest Service. The owner of Brian Head Resort, one of Utah's largest ski areas, wants to absorb 1,651 acres of national forest land under a special use permit, nearly tripling the resort's current use of Dixie National Forest from 887 acres to 2,538 acres. The Forest Service announced this week that agency officials will begin work on an environmental impact statement, which will examine the potential implications of the new development. 'The project is being reviewed for its potential to support sustainable recreation objectives on the Cedar City Ranger District,' Dixie National Forest Supervisor Kevin Wright said in a news release. 'We encourage the public to share their input on this important process.' Advertisement The project could have harmful impacts on wildlife, water, cultural resources and forest scenery, according to the Forest Service's notice in the Federal Register.
E&E News
6 days ago
- Politics
- E&E News
Trump admin to ink deals with states for forest management
The Forest Service has launched an ambitious goal of handing states more responsibility for federal land, agency Chief Tom Schultz said Wednesday. Speaking to a national forest policy conference in Washington, Schultz outlined the Trump administration's vision of a Forest Service with a narrower public mission that relies more heavily on state governments to keep the 193-million-acre system healthy and less at risk of out-of-control wildfires. 'I see a different role for the states, maybe, going forward,' Schultz said, pointing to the administration's recent 20-year agreement with Montana to allow the state to manage 200,000 acres of national forest for timber, wildfire and other priorities. Advertisement Gone are the days, Schultz said, when states with limited budgets were viewed as subservient to the federal government.
E&E News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Forest Service research survives in House spending bill
House appropriators Monday turned away a Trump administration effort to slash the Forest Service's research budget, proposing to hold spending steady at about $300 million in fiscal 2026. The proposal by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee is part of an $8.5 billion annual spending plan for the Forest Service that largely ignores the administration's most far-reaching proposals. Total spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 would be $16.8 million less than this year's level. Spending not directly tied to fire suppression would total $3.6 billion, or about $107 million less than this year. The measure is scheduled for a subcommittee markup Tuesday. Advertisement The research budget would total $302 million, of which $34 million would be reserved for forest inventory and analysis — the data-collecting operation that the administration hadn't looked to scale back.
