BLM California Newsbytes Issue 702

Title: Untitled Document

Fall Colors at Conway Summit ACEC

ISSUE 702 - NOVEMBER 25, 2015

- Opt Outside
- Headlines and Highlights
- BLM and DOI Highlights
- Wildlife Question of the Week
- Upcoming Events

 OPT OUTSIDE

Black Friday? No Thanks, Get Out Friday and Opt Outside Instead

Federal lands and waters are a bargain on any day! Thanksgiving is full of food and fun. Fill Black Friday with fresh air and the great outdoors. You will be thankful you did! (BLM Tumblr)

Opt Outside

To all those going ‪‎Opt Outside this ‪black Friday, get outside and enjoy your public lands! Plan your trip at BLM Recreation. (BLM Facebook)

Explore Public Lands With Your Loved Ones During National Family Week

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” -George Santayana
Go to Conservation Lands for interactive maps and ideas for recreation activities on BLM’s National Conservation Lands. (BLM Tumblr)

HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS

Youth and Women’s Pheasant Hunt 2015

For years, the Bureau of Land Management Redding Field Office, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Shasta County Sportsman’s Association have partnered to provide a hunting opportunity for youth and women in America’s Great Outdoors. (BLM Newsbytes)

Bishop Park Ranger Receives BLM Excellence in Interpretation Award

Ron Napoles, Recreation Park Ranger for the Bureau of Land Management’s Bishop Field Office, has received this year’s national award for contributions in the field of interpretation.Ron was recognized for developing and designing a set of interpretive panels in collaboration with the fourth through seventh grade classes at Round Valley Elementary School in Bishop. (BLM News Release)

Field Offices Race the Rain to Avoid Erosion Following Fires
The Bureau of Land Management’s Mother Lode and Ukiah field offices have received more than $4 million in this fiscal year to stabilize and rehabilitate areas burned by a series of wildfires this year. (BLM Newsbytes)

On This Day in 1911, President Taft Signed The Weeks Act into Law

The Weeks Act permits the federal purchase of private land to protect the headwaters of rivers and watersheds. The Headwaters Forest Reserve is 7,472 acres of public land located 6 miles southeast of Eureka, California. (BLM Tumblr)

The Joys of Isolation at nearby Berryessa Snow Mountain Monument

San Francisco Chronicle, 11/19/2015
The top of Snow Mountain was the last place I expected to find anything resembling a traffic jam. The declaration signed by President Obama in July, making Berryessa Snow Mountain California’s newest national monument, noted that almost half of the state’s 108 species of dragonflies and damselflies are found in the area, and every last one of them seemed to be whizzing about in the clearing in front of me. (Read full story)

Tread Lightly

Find out where to ride at  BLM Recreation and Tread Lightly, on your Public Lands (BLM Facebook)

Enjoy Dry Camping Nearby at Stoddard Wells Off-Highway Area

Victorville Daily Press, 11/21/2015
Dry camping is a type of camping Russ and Lori have been asked about. We have mentioned it a few times with regard to different camping destinations as an option to hook up camping. Dry camping means that no external options are available for water, electric, or sewer. Sometimes, water may be miles away. (Read full story)

BLM Plans Pile Burns in Kern River Valley

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to burn piles in the Wofford Heights and Wagy Flat areas this winter and spring. Operations are scheduled to begin Dec. 1 to 3 on a project next to Sawmill and Wagy Flat roads above Wofford Heights. Piles created from fuel reduction projects will be burned to dispose of fuels along roadsides and constructed fuelbreaks. The BLM also may burn piles around Wagy Flat later in the season. Smoke may be visible in the area. (BLM News Release)

BLM Announces Signing of West Mojave Route Network Programmatic Agreement

The Bureau of Land Management is pleased to announce the formal signing of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Programmatic Agreement (PA) for the West Mojave Plan Environmental Impact Statement and West Mojave Route Network. The signing was formally executed in Sacramento, Calif. on September 30, 2015 by signature of the BLM California State Director, Jim Kenna, California State Historic Preservation Officer, Julianne Polanco, and Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Milford Wayne Donaldson. (BLM News Release)

BLM AND DOI HIGHLIGHTS

This Week at Interior

Please enjoy this message from Secretary Jewell to thank you for your work throughout the year on behalf of the Department. (DOI YouTube)

WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What does the common murre use for nests?
(a.) Depressions in beach sand
(b.) Clumps of beach grasses
(c.) Floating “islands” of driftwood, which they supplement with loose branches and grasses they carry from shore
(d.) Rock
(e.) Frankincense and gold
Keep reading for answer below

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 28: BLM to host Interpretive Hike in the Alabama Hills

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will host an interpretive hike in the Alabama Hills Nov. 28 to visit movie locations and view scenic arches. Participants should meet at 10 a.m. at the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center, at the corner of Highway 395 and State Route 136 in Lone Pine, to carpool to the site.  (BLM News Release)

December 2: Public Meeting Set on Trinity River Improvement Project in Lewiston

Comments on a proposed Trinity River channel improvement project will be accepted in a public meeting set forWednesday, Dec. 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Moose Lodge, 71 Lewiston Turnpike Rd. in Lewiston. (BLM News Release)

WILDLIFE QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER

What does the common murre use for nests?

Answer: d) Rock They lay their eggs on bare rock, using no material for the nest except occasionally a few pebbles cemented together with excrement, which may keep the egg from rolling.

SOURCE: “Common Murre – Uria aalge” (BLM California wildlife database)