Musings on our travels & travel plans

It's been a fabulous summer for communing with nature, and we're not done yet.  So far: Lake Tahoe in June, Eastern Sierra, Yosemite, Mono Lake, Stanislaus Forest, Bay Area's Tilden Park, and Fabulosa Festival.  Next on the list is Lake Tahoe again, but the Rim Fire has me on alert for air quality... hence the new blog.

For those who haven't followed the California fire season this year, or the Rim Fire, I'll re-post some highlights and their links.

The Huffington Post sums up the Rim Fire essentials:

The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall.
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada, although residents received something of a reprieve Wednesday when for the first time in three days blue sky was sometimes visible through the haze.

Heat maps from Joe Coho's goldrushcam in Everything South City; discusses the danger to the water supply of San Francisco:

Because... we receive our water supply from Hetch Hetchy, this is a situation we will keep a close watch on and advise of important updates. Over 2.6 million of us receive our water from Hetch Hetchy and the hydroelectric power supplies SF facilities. The City of San Francisco has declared a State of Emergency due to fire damaged power and communications assets owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) as part of the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System. Governor Brown has also declared a State of Emergency for the Rim Fire, freeing up resources to continue to bring this fire into control. Last evening there was a report that federal budget for wild land fires were nearly extinguished and that monies would have to be used from other sources, such as federal recreation funds.

Coverage of the fire in today's LA Times, with quotes for National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis

In an interview with The Times, Jarvis said the massive Rim fire is one example of what is to be expected across the West as climate change, drought and decades of fire suppression leave forests dried-out, overloaded with fuel and more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires.

"It is a fire that's demonstrating the challenges that we in the land-management business are facing with climate change. A legacy of fire suppression in these forests and, recently, a reduction in our fire funding is all resulting in these huge fires that are incredibly difficult to control and very expensive."

 "[150 years ago] you would have had smoke all the time because nobody was putting out the fires. There were lightning strikes and fires just burned until winter came." He is not advocating for a return to that practice with the Rim fire.

"I want to be clear: There is no 'let it burn' policy here. We are putting this fire out," he said. "But at the same time, we recognize fire is essential to this system." 

And, finally, a quick link to Google images search for Rim Fire photos