Inyo NF Closure 8/31 - 9/17

[Lumbergh21]

I too doubt the decision to shut down the NF's was to stop hunting. Way too much of a revenue stream to shut it down.
Archery was already open, and those are steel blades and still had people camping. Plus, we can still hunt out of state.

Pure and simple, the forests are too dry to allow anyone in which is a good decision based on the threat and size of land to protect.
After attending some CDFW conferences, even waterfowl seasons are impacted by lack of water to flood the ponds. I usually put in to the lottery for reservation draws for the full season. With the ponds not flooded, no reason to go until around Thanksgiving and even then, the lottery pressure gives a person about a 1 in 80,000 chance of a draw. Lots of money in that process, especially for the good refuges.

We need real rain.

The government already got their revenue. It's not like they are refunding hunting license and tag fees.

[rlown]

Actually, they might give refunds. There is a petition in place to the CDFW to refund. I don't buy tags until I know I use them.
I go for preference points. When we get a good season, we put in for good Antelope, Elk and Mule deer draws.

[Broot]

If SEKI being open makes sense, then why won't they allow trips starting from the east side through Inyo NF to get into seki? They could just allow entrance to seki via those eastside passes while not allowing camping unless inside the national park. They effectively shut down over half of the entrances into seki by this closure.

[Broot]

Oh and also, word on the street is that Fish and wildlife will not enforce this closure. That was the forest service's decision so it is up to them to enforce it. They'll do their standard fishing and hunting enforcement, but that's it. And it is extremely frustrating that deer season will once again be a bust. And it is 100% on california's agenda to shut down/minimize hunting in this state. Non-lead hunting ammo being one example of that.

[agfhst]

Just a little on-the-ground info if anyone's interested. Came out from Maxson Trailhead in Sierra NF this past Saturday around noon after several days of great backpacking. We went in to the woods on Monday, the same day that the Forest Service announced the closure, although we didn't know about it since no one said anything to us in Prather when we picked up the permit around 9:30 am.

When we got back to the Maxson parking lot on Saturday, there was one car other than ours and six or so pickups with ATV trailers, including one from Fresno County, which I think had been there when we arrived. The Forest Service had placed a copy of the order closing the forests along with the accompanying news release on the windshields of vehicles in the parking lot.

Otherwise, the Forest Service's only enforcement effort that we saw was putting up sandwich boards reading "Sierra National Forest Closed" at five or so points on the road to Shaver Lake. We saw one government pickup driving toward Courtright or Wishon, but nothing to indicate whether that was for law enforcement or some other purpose.

In terms of private activity, while still on the trail, we heard an ATV through the woods at one point a mile or so north of the Voyager Rock campground. When we were back at the parking lot, my friend saw someone trying to drive a Jeep (Cherokee, I think) up the ATV trail. But they apparently gave up, as the Jeep later passed us on the road as we headed to Shaver Lake. As we drove out, we saw seven or so cars driving toward Courtright or Wishon. Since the order had several exceptions to the closure, could be that those folks were not in violation. No one was logging along the road, although maybe they normally don't work on Saturdays.

[GGC23]

More on-the-ground info from the eastside: I'm pretty sure that this is the most non-closed closure I've ever seen. This weekend, I spent one day hiking in Yosemite, one day at a friend's house in Aspendell / walking my dog up to the Sabrina and North Lake trailheads, and one day riding my bike up Pine Creek Rd. In all three places, I saw what I would describe as "light weekend" crowds and traffic going to/from national forest lands...think maybe a weekend in mid-June before the backpacking season is in full swing. The worst was on Pine Creek Rd. Perhaps it was the fact that I was on a bike and therefore going slowly and able to notice more stuff, but there were plenty of dispersed campers along the road. It appears that we have a COVID-like situation here where the Forest Service's closure of campgrounds has served to push people into riskier, dispersed camping. I also saw zero Forest Service personnel doing any kind of enforcement. Ironically, however, it looks like CHP was doing some heightened traffic enforcement this weekend. I've never seen so many CHP officers parked along Hwy 395!

[ericmcornelius]

More on-the-ground info from the eastside: I'm pretty sure that this is the most non-closed closure I've ever seen. This weekend, I spent one day hiking in Yosemite, one day at a friend's house in Aspendell / walking my dog up to the Sabrina and North Lake trailheads, and one day riding my bike up Pine Creek Rd. In all three places, I saw what I would describe as "light weekend" crowds and traffic going to/from national forest lands...think maybe a weekend in mid-June before the backpacking season is in full swing. The worst was on Pine Creek Rd. Perhaps it was the fact that I was on a bike and therefore going slowly and able to notice more stuff, but there were plenty of dispersed campers along the road. It appears that we have a COVID-like situation here where the Forest Service's closure of campgrounds has served to push people into riskier, dispersed camping. I also saw zero Forest Service personnel doing any kind of enforcement. Ironically, however, it looks like CHP was doing some heightened traffic enforcement this weekend. I've never seen so many CHP officers parked along Hwy 395!

It's like this all over the state as far as I have seen. Left Mammoth via 120 to the coast last Wednesday and saw at least a half dozen dispersed vehicle campers just on the way up to Tioga, more in Stanislaus on the far side, and many more in the Northwest. All openly visible from paved roads as I headed north to legally permissable uses in Oregon and Washington.

If closure just means liability avoidance by the officials establishing the closure, and no enforcement, you've only made my community *more* dangerous by driving legitimate usage to dispersed forest usage.

And that's not okay in my book.

[bobby49]

Write a sternly worded letter to your congressman.

[yosemite samizdat]

I'm putting together a California Public Records Act request (lawyer that works for public agencies). I think it is fair that the public knows the criteria used for determining this closure, how they determined the long time frame for the closure, whether the criteria will be used in the future, and I will require production of email correspondence and any evidence relied upon to make the decision. If anyone else has questions about this debacle that you would like to include in this PRA request, please let me know. I have obtained so much useful information from this forum and would like to return the favor if I can.

In Socal, access roads to local forests such as San Gabriel River Canyon are closed with police turning people away at the gate. It is beyond parody that I can't walk in the forest in LA or SB County while the NP's closer to the fire are fully open. If the plan going forward is to just close all forests and open spaces in the state any time it is relatively hot during the summer, the public deserves to know that.

[alpinemike]

I'm putting together a California Public Records Act request (lawyer that works for public agencies). I think it is fair that the public knows the criteria used for determining this closure, how they determined the long time frame for the closure, whether the criteria will be used in the future, and I will require production of email correspondence and any evidence relied upon to make the decision. If anyone else has questions about this debacle that you would like to include in this PRA request, please let me know. I have obtained so much useful information from this forum and would like to return the favor if I can.

In Socal, access roads to local forests such as San Gabriel River Canyon are closed with police turning people away at the gate. It is beyond parody that I can't walk in the forest in LA or SB County while the NP's closer to the fire are fully open. If the plan going forward is to just close all forests and open spaces in the state any time it is relatively hot during the summer, the public deserves to know that.

This is greatly appreciated. I absolutely agree that we deserve to know everything that goes into it. And that is a very good point... if this is just how it going to be yearly, people have a right to know. I bet that will seriously make some reconsider living in the state given the lack of recreation opportunities for months.