Mineral King Road

We just received this update on the Mineral King road from the Park Service:

"The brief road update is that we have gotten federal highways crews on site to evaluate the damage, and they are completing designs for a contractor now. We hope to award a contract within the first week or so of March and have crews on site as soon as possible following that. Given the number of locations along MK Road and the Generals Highway, the snow in some locations, and the need for warmer temps for the paving aspect of the work, I anticipate stabilization and repair efforts to be implemented incrementally over the next 3 months or so. Please reach out if you have any specific questions."

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks seek public input on planting sequoia seedlings in areas impacted by recent wildfires

SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. – The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking public feedback on a proposal to replant giant sequoia and other mixed conifer seedlings in areas severely impacted by the recent Castle and KNP Complex wildfires and where regeneration is otherwise not anticipated in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.    

The NPS is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act. This process includes completing supporting analyses in accordance with the Wilderness Act and other laws to develop and evaluate alternatives to ensure proposed agency action conforms with all federal resource protection laws.    

The NPS proposes collecting, growing, and hand planting sequoia, sugar pine, Jeffrey pine, and ponderosa pine in up to six sequoia groves in the national parks. The NPS is also proposing to plant pine seedlings in a mixed conifer forest corridor of proposed critical habitat for the endangered fisher, a small mammal, immediately south of the Redwood Mountain Sequoia Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.    

Under the proposed action, establishing seedlings in severely burned areas would mimic natural processes pointing these groves and fisher habitat toward recovery of their pre-fire forest species compositions, as they would have done naturally had they not experienced severe fire effects during recent fires. Planting plans, informed by site-specific evaluations and minimum requirement analyses, would determine final acreage and specific locations of actions. The NPS currently estimates that planting may be necessary on up to roughly 1,200 acres of previously forested areas.   

 

To learn more about the proposed action and this planning effort and to provide comments, please visit the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/ReEstablishGiantSequoiaPostFire2021.    

The NPS will host a virtual public meeting on the proposed action on Feb. 27, from 5 to 6 p.m. Public comments on the proposed action will be accepted through midnight, March 18. During this time, any individual or group can submit comments electronically through the project website, which is the preferred method, or via mail to:    

Superintendent      

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks      

Attn: Re-Establish Sequoias    

47050 Generals Highway   

Three Rivers, CA 93271     

Comments that provide insights about the project’s purpose and the parks’ current proposal are helpful, and new ideas and suggestions are also welcome. Following the public comment period, the NPS will analyze and consider all feedback and begin preparation of the assessment.    

The NPS will not select an alternative for implementation until after the analysis of all options, and their potential impacts, have been completed within the EA and all other analyses or consultations in accordance with other environmental laws have been completed. The NPS anticipates the EA will be available for public review in summer 2023. 

MKPS Seeking Artifacts

The Mineral King Preservation Society (MKPS) is searching for mining artifacts--in particular, tools used in the mines, parts and pieces of the stamp, the ropeway, the smelter, etc. and pictures of any of these machines. We will take them ON LOAN or DONATED; however, you would allow us to show these artifacts to the public.

MKPS is finalizing the mining exhibit and the smelter exhibit and want to make certain that we have all the possible artifacts we can get to tell the story of mining in Mineral King with as many visual effects as possible.

If you have something to offer, please contact Sandi Stryd, MKPS Curator, at sandra@mineralking.org or leave a message at (559) 561-1000.  Thank you! 

Public Meeting About Visitor Experience And Access

 UPDATE: Public Meeting About Visitor Experience and Access  

this Wednesday, February 8 

SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. February 6, 2023 – Officials from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will be hosting a public meeting on the topic of visitor experience and access on Wednesday, February 8, at 6 p.m. at the Three Rivers Memorial Building. This meeting has been rescheduled multiple times due to weather emergencies in and around the parks. The associated public comment period will remain open until Wednesday, February 15. This meeting will not be livestreamed, but the recording of a previous virtual public meeting on this topic can be found on the project site linked below. 

 

The National Park Service (NPS) is working on a visitor experience and access planning process for developed areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and is seeking public feedback to help identify key issues and ways the NPS can improve visitor experiences.  

 

The parks have experienced record-breaking levels of visitation over the last decade, and popular destinations in the parks can be challenging for visitors and staff to navigate, particularly during busy times. This project seeks to meet the changing needs of park visitors while sustainably addressing ongoing challenges attributed to high levels of visitation in the most popular areas of the parks.   

 

To learn more about this planning process and provide your feedback, please visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/SEKIFrontcountryFall2022.  

 

Comments may also be mailed to:   

 

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks  

Attn: Visitor Experience and Access Plan   

47050 Generals Highway  

Three Rivers, CA 93271 

 

Future public comment periods will be announced as this effort moves forward. If you have any specific questions regarding this proposal, please contact Elly Boerke, Environmental Protection Specialist, at (559) 565-3102. 

 

An (unfortunate) update on the Mineral King Road

The Park Service, and especially District Ranger Dave Fox, have been very helpful in keeping us posted on the status of the Mineral King Road. The following is Dave's latest message, with the photo which accompanied it.

Friends,

We have been receiving assistance from two of our former maintenance employees in a rented back hoe working their way up toward Mineral King. Below Slapjack Creek, we found a significant washout that will need additional inspection before we are able to determine if the road will support even one lane of traffic.

With the weather prediction for this weekend, I'm not clear how this will shake out. Our crew has cleaned out the culvert the slide that was primarily responsible for this damage so hopefully we won't lose any more, but I'm afraid we'll have to wait and see. It looks like about ¾ inch of rain is predicted prior to some snow at this location.

I know it is tough waiting but that is still the safest thing to do. Please be patient and let the crew work their way through this. Keep your vehicles off the road for now. We can't guarantee the stability of the decomposed granite below that section of roadway and your safety is our greatest concern.

Thanks,

Dave Fox
Sequoia District Ranger

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