Road and Water System Information

According to Dave Fox, Sequoia District Ranger, the Mineral King Road gates and West Mineral King / Cold Springs Campground water systems will be open at the usually scheduled date of the Wednesday prior to Memorial Day.  This year, that date is May 25.

More details about summer events will be posted later.

Here’s hoping we can have a full summer season this year to enjoy our Cabin Cove, Silver City, and Mineral King cabins, trails, lakes and rivers!

Spring Newsletter Article

Hello, all!  I'm sure you're anxious to get up to our beloved Cabin Cove / Silver City / Mineral King this summer, especially since we dodged a KNP Complex Fire bullet last fall!  As soon as I hear any official word about the road gates opening and water system engagement, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, we are putting together our annual MKDA Newsletter, and thought it would be fun to include a brief article about all the birds that people have seen in recent years at Mineral King. 

In the last five years what birds have you seen in the Mineral King Valley?  Have you seen a trend upward or downward in some species?  Please reply by April 20 to mineralking50@gmail.com, and we will report our responses in our newsletter.

Thank you!

Brief MK Road Report

 Here is a brief road report and photo from April 4, 2022 by Mineral King resident Laile Di Silvestro.

A tractor blade continued to work its way up the road, which is now passable (though icy) to just past the ranger station. It looks like there is considerable work remaining to make the road safe after the fire, but the valley will be welcoming us all soon enough.

Mineral King Road Update

From Glenn Cunningham, WMK-16 "Wood Shed" and faithful keeper of the Mineral King Webcam (http://www.mk-webcam.net):

As you may know, I have been participating in the monthly coordination meetings between the  MKDA, the MKPS and the Park.

At the March 16 meeting, Dave Fox, the Sequoia District Ranger, indicated that the Park would be addressing the MK road condition as the weather and their staffing levels permit.  There have been reported debris flows across the road in several locations and a couple of downed trees.

The Park's main focus of late has been in getting the General's Highway open to Grant Grove and servicing the infrastructure at Lodgepole.  Big rocks buried in the snow have damaged their road working equipment delay some road work.

There are also every two week informational briefings for the local merchants and other nearby the Park stakeholders that Lisa Monteiro (MKPS) and I participate in.  I will let you know of any significant information that comes from those events.

Be well

Glenn

Generals Highway Opens Today

 

Winter Use at Mineral King

From our SEKI representative regarding winter use in the Mineral King Valley: 

Mineral King is now open for normal winter use. For the public (including cabin owners), this means that a recreation permit ($35/week or annual pass) is needed to access MK Valley trailheads and go hiking, skiing, snow shoeing, swimming, etc. (i.e., to recreate in MK). Access to cabins: 

The SUP cabin owners have with their NPS permits the right to access their cabins but it is not equivalent to the recreation permit. When at their cabins, no recreation permit is needed.

Photo by Michael Botkin

SEKI Seeking Input

 

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks News Release

For Immediate Release                                Contact: Sintia Kawasaki-Yee, Chief of Communications Phone: (559) 679-2866 Email: sintia_kawasaki-yee@nps.gov

Reference Number: 8550-2202

National Park Service Requests Public Input on Project to Plant Giant Sequoia Seedlings in Area Burned at High Severity in the 2020 Castle Fire within Sequoia National Park

SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. February 22, 2022 – The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking public comment on a project to plant seedlings of giant sequoia within groves that sustained a significant loss of trees and their associated seeds and cones during the 2020 Castle Fire in Sequoia National Park.   The 2020 Castle Fire burned through 22 giant sequoia groves and burned 9.7% of the entire range of giant sequoias at high severity. In particular, three giant sequoia groves within Sequoia National Park: Board Camp, Upper Dillonwood, and Homer’s Nose sustained contiguous acres of high severity fire which removed 75-100% of the overstory tree cover and killed a significant amount of monarch sequoia trees. The grove most heavily impacted was Board Camp Grove, a 48-acre grove of giant sequoia mixed conifer forest in steep remote wilderness within Sequoia National Park. Due to the loss of mature overstory sequoia trees in this grove and the short dispersal distance of sequoia seeds (600 feet), the NPS believes Board Camp Grove has a very low likelihood of recovering giant sequoia tree cover without management intervention.   In order to give sequoias the opportunity to re-establish to a similar density within these centuries-old groves, the NPS is proposing to plant sequoia seedlings in Board Camp Grove as a pilot project in fall 2022. While most of these seedlings would be grown from sequoia cones collected from Board Camp and nearby groves, a small number of seedlings from seed collections held by a United States Forest Service nursery in Placerville would be planted in a select area to test for potential benefits of including drought-adapted sequoia seedlings.   The proposed action includes growing sequoia seedlings from collected seed, transporting the seedlings to the remote Board Camp Grove via helicopter, and planting 12,000 sequoia seedlings in the fall, just prior to winter precipitation. Given the location, roughly seven miles off-trail in remote wilderness, watering and post-planting care is not planned at this time. Seedlings would be monitored for percent of survivorship the following fall, and if deemed successful, the NPS would consider planting additional seedlings the following year. The NPS anticipates that planting would occur in October 2022 and may occur again in 2023.   To obtain supplemental information about the proposed project, or to provide comments, please visit the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/SEKIBoardCampSequoiaRestoration2022.    Written comments may be sent via mail or hand-delivery to:   Superintendent Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Attn: Board Camp Restoration Project 47050 Generals Highway Three Rivers, CA 93271   All written comments about this project must be transmitted, postmarked, or hand-delivered by March 25, 2022. Comments that provide insights about the current proposed action and potential mitigations are particularly helpful.   Interested parties can also participate in a virtual public Teams Live meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. PST. For additional information about the virtual meeting visit the PEPC project website listed above.   Following the public comment period, the NPS will analyze and consider all feedback, will modify and evaluate the proposed action as appropriate, and will move toward finalizing environmental reviews in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and other applicable laws and policies.   If you have any specific questions regarding this proposal, please contact Elly Boerke, Environmental Protection Specialist, at (559) 579-0046.

An aerial image of Board Camp in Sequoia National Park, taken from a helicopter, reveals a forest stand that burned at high intensity during the 2020 Castle Fire, resulting in 100% tree mortality in places. NPS Photo

- NPS -