California has been battling a serious drought since the beginning of 2014. With the forests and grass lands bone dry, we’ve been fortunate to only have smaller fires until recently. On September 13th, a fire started near Pollock Pines and quickly spread through the American River canyon, crossing the river and burning its way up the ridge. Camp 7 of the Michigan-California Lumber Co was engulfed two days ago and the fire has spread even further, up nearly into “Old Pino”. Presently the fire is only 5% contained and spreading northeast near Stumpy Meadows Reservoir.
Local news aggregator, YubaNet, has been keeping track of the fire in photographs and consolidating fire maps into one place. They now have a Google map available showing the current extent of the fire and is well worth a visit if you’re interested in the progress.
http://yubanet.com/nevada/King.php
While the loss of potential remains in the wood is unfortunate, the fire will ultimately clear the undergrowth and reveal ROW which has previously been inaccessible for mapping purposes. In the past few wooden remains (beyond remaining ties) have been located in this country, owing to the early date operations ended at these camps. Next year when the fire area opens exploration of these areas will begin with our good friend John Barnhill.
As the idiom goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining.”