Archive - Mar 2011
March 22nd
March 21st
When Kelly Bahr became an animal care volunteer for Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care, she never imagined she would do physical therapy on a Golden eagle. But a few weeks ago, she did just that. The Golden eagle was rescued from the shoulder of Highway 6 on Matthew Hill, mid-way between Hammil and Benton. On admission, the female eagle had tightly clenched talons and could only stand on her hocks. While working to find the cause of this problem, ESWC Director Cindy Kamler ordered therapy and Kelly helped implement it.
All roads into Yosemite National Park have reopened this morning, pending weather and safety along the roadways. This includes park entrances via Highways 120, 140, and 41.
The park is open to visitors until 7:00 p.m. this evening. Reservations for rooms in the park will be honored this evening. The Hetch Hetchy Road and the Badger Pass Road will remain closed
until further notice.
Yosemite National Park will be fully open to the public beginning tomorrow, Friday, March 25. Again, this is contingent upon the weather and safety on the roads.
The Center Fire that started outside of Big Pine Friday night burned 19 structures, including homes, and 850 acres before it was considered "contained" or out, last night.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
As many as 400 fire fighters were assigned to the fire over the weekend, although the wind-whipped flames did most of their damage Friday night.
CalFire's website is one of the best places to get the latest data on the fire; http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=482
Here's the latest update from CalFire, filed Sunday night at 7 p.m.
March 18th
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi, Times Staff Writer
Despite having a tiny campground right on it, despite being only a mile from Mammoth, little Sherwin Creek Road just to the southeast of town has a wild and lovely feel that makes it a great cross-country ski destination for an afternoon, or even for a day-long adventure.
The gravel road is covered in snow right now, making it a perfect place for skiing Mammothâs spring snow.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
Are we ready? Itâs hard not to ask that question, watching the destruction, fear and grief facing Japan.
Deep down, Mammoth holds a large and uncomfortable resemblance to that island country, although the surfaces of the two areas couldnât be more different.
Unstable bedrock, an unquiet volcanic past; more than many places in the country, the Eastern Sierra shares a certain geological kinship with Japan. All thatâs missing is the sea â and many millions of people.
But a big quake? Sure. A volcano? Sure. Both are inevitable, scientists tell us. Someday.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Donât let the snowbanks or the cold snap fool you.
Mammothâs bears are starting to wake up.
You can see them, now and again, lying on top of a snowbank, soaking up some sun before retreating back in their dens.
âThe life cycle is beginning again,â said Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles,.
âDuring the winter we kind of forget about them,â he said. âI know where I live, I can leave stuff out in the garage and itâll just freeze, and thereâs no odor.
Maggie and Buck Wahl are back from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and those pictures on Facebook belong in a museum or something, sez us. ...
Good for Kelly Bahr, who as an animal care volunteer for Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care, did heroic work giving help to a Golden Eagle that was rescued from the shoulder of Highway 6 near Benton. ESWC Director Cindy Kamler ordered therapy, and tests revealed the eagle sadly, had acute lead poisoning and it subsequently died.
By
Diane Eagle, Times Editor
A family affair, with nephew Marcel Lloyd and daughter Emily Bridges
Every climber has probably wondered, at some point in an ascent, what would happen if he were injured, stuck on a narrow ledge far from help.
That is the setting of the play “K2” by Patrick Meyers, which will have a staged reading at the Edison Theatre on Saturday, March 26.
Actors Beau Bridges and his nephew Marcel Lloyd portray two climbers, Harold and Taylor, who are stranded on an icy shelf at 27,000 feet up the world’s second highest mountain.
March 16th
A permitted burn on private ranchland last Saturday, March 12, was visible from Sherwin Summit and had several people calling in to report a fire. Mammoth Times Photos/Leslie Willoughby
March 15th
Saturday night, March 12, the first Mardi Gras night at Rafters brought out revelers in costume. New Orleans food was served and Lisa Haley and the Zydekats provided lively music for dancing.
On a blue-sky Sunday in New York City Mammoth runners scored high points in the New York Half-Marathon, March 20.
Meb Keflezighi finished 15th overall and second in his age group.
Alistair Cragg finished sixth overall and second in his age group.
Ryan Hall finished 21st overall and eighth in his age group.
For complete results, go to http://www.nyrr.org/races/2011/nychalf/
March 14th
By
A message from Dr. Rick Johnson/Mono County Public Health Officer
Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, as the evolving multiple catastrophic disasters of earthquake, tsunami, radiation, and now freezing cold and snow compound their unimaginable human misery. The images and stories told 24/7 through our media barely scrape the surface of human emotion being felt in Japan, but leave us feeling at once sad, helpless, guilty, and afraid. Having said that, allow me (RJ) to speak to you as the Eastern Sierra family, and try to put this into perspective. After all, if this happened here, we would be forced to relate as one big family in order to survive.
By
News and analysis by Wendilyn Grasseschi â Mammoth Times Staff Writer
What was supposed to be a compromise solution to help solve the Bodie Wilderness Study Area (WSA) fate Tuesday, wasnât.
Instead, when Mono County District 2 Supervisor Hap Hazard proposed to divide the existing WSA roughly in half â with one half becoming true wilderness and the other open to multiple uses â just about everyone was none too pleased.
And the fact that he asked everyone to do it quickly didnât help either.
March 11th
By
Diane Eagle, Mammoth Times Editor
Greg Stump spotlights legendary filmmakers, skiers in new film
Ahhhh ... one of the sounds made when watching ski movies, whether evoked by incredible landscapes and vistas, or by skiers launching off improbable precipices to land far below in the snow.
Greg Stumpâs âLegend of Aahhhâsâ is a ski movie about ski movies, the people who made them and those who skied in them.
It will be screened at the Mammoth Lakes Arts Center Saturday night, March 12.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, March 18, 2011
March 22, 2011
BODIE SHOULD BE A NATIONAL PARK
Supporting a mine or Wilderness Study Area is chump change compared to what really needs to be done with Bodie.
The supervisors should go for broke and propose national park status for the historic mining town.
Bodie is the only bona fide ghost town left in the West. It is the only place a visitor can go to experience what it was like to live in the West in the 1860s.
Based on that fact alone, Bodie is worthy of national park status. It deserves to be linked with Death Valley, Manzanar, and Yosemite.