el dorado national forest

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Deputies from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office (EDSO) and Search and Rescue volunteers responded to a call on Sunday, January 6 about overdue backpackers in the El Dorado National Forest, just as severe winter weather hit the region.

Family members provided deputies with the backpacker's travel plan and a map of their planned route.

The North Lake Tahoe Visitor Center has run out of Christmas Tree cutting permits, but there are still some available at the Forest Supervisor’s office in South Lake Tahoe, the USFS office in Incline Village and at El Dorado National Forest offices.

Permits cost $10 each with a limit of two per family. They must be purchased in person, are not transferable and are sold on a first come, first serve basis through December 23, if available.

7:20 p.m. update 8-7-16: Firefighters will soon be in clean up mode on the Alder Fire after they made good progress today. They strengthened lines today increasing the containment of the fire to 60 percent.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

9:00 a.m. update 8-7-16: Firefighters made good progress on the Alder Fire overnight and the fire is now 40 percent contained. The amount of brush and timber burned has been updated to 25 acres.

Arsonist Wayne Allen Huntsman was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay over $60 million in victim restitution after he pleaded guilty Friday to starting the catastrophic King Fire in 2014.

Twenty years in prison was the maximum sentence Huntsman could receive for the guilty plea of three counts of Arson to Forest Land, admitted multiple enhancements for causing injury to firefighters and destruction of multiple structures.

Update 8/7/15: The body found off the OHV Trail west of Slate Mountain in the El Dorado National Forest was positively identified today as 45 year-old Edward Cavanaugh of San Francisco. The identification was done by a forensic odontologist, who compared Cavanaugh’s dental records to the upper and lower jaw bones found near his motorcycle. The cause of death is still under investigation.

The El Dorado Chapter of the California Native Plant Society presents Before and After the Flames: Fire, Forest and Climate Change in the Sierra Nevada, a talk by Dr. Hugh D. Safford, Senior Vegetation Ecologist for the US Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region (including California, Hawaii and Pacific Islands) and Dr. Becky Estes, ecologist with the the US Forest Service, Tuesday, January 27th, 7pm at the Planning Commission Meeting Room, Building C of the County Office Buildings, 2850 Fairlane Court in Placerville. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Laurence:

This fall, while under your supervision, approximately 16% of the Eldorado National Forest burned due to the King Fire. You are entrusted to protect and maintain the health of this critical forest/watershed. Given the extreme drought and high fire risk conditions we experienced this summer, what fire restrictions, ranger alerts, precautionary measures, were in place the week of Sept 07, 2014? Arson yes, but could we have been more alert?

The Eldorado National Forest has issued a closure order for public safety in the area impacted by the King fire beginning September 18, 2014, until the fire is declared out. The closure order includes the Desolation Wilderness.

“Under our Unified Command System, our top priorities are fighting this fire and keeping the fire fighters and the public safe, said Crabtree. “We cannot safely fight this fire with intermingled publics. Please stay out of the closed areas until I can reopen them, which I intend to do as soon as possible.”

A two-acre wildfire continued to burn overnight in the Desolation Wilderness area near the boundary of the El Dorado National Forest. It is not threatening any structures and doesn't appear to be moving at a fast clip, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Cheva Heck. Smoke from the fire moved into the basin.
The fire was reported Sunday evening and is located near Rubicon Lake within the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit boundaries, said Heck. A helicopter has been deployed to knock down the flames and a team of firefighters will be on the fire overnight.