Regional
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KLAMATH, Calif.— California State Parks and the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People have announced the signing of a historic agreement to protect the natural and cultural resources in state parks within the Tribe’s traditional territory.
“We are honored to be leaders in ocean and coastal stewardship and to continue to work with State Parks toward our common goals,” said Fawn C. Murphy, chairperson of the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People. “Tribes have an inherent responsibility to steward and co-manage important cultural and natural resources in our ancestral territories. This MOU establishes a path to revitalizing Indigenous knowledge, supporting access to traditional cultural resources, and putting us back in the places we’ve been removed from for far too long.”
Signed at the Resighini Tribal headquarters in Klamath on Wednesday, Feb. 14, the memorandum of understanding, or MOU, outlines the mutual responsibilities of State Parks and the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People to promote a successful cooperation, co-management, and collaboration between the parties.
This includes incorporating indigenous traditional knowledge to better protect and preserve state parks, and ensuring consultation and meaningful dialogue takes place sufficiently in advance of final decision-making on what may affect the cultural and natural resource management.
The Resighini Tribe of Yurok People is one of three North Coast Tribes that formally designated, under their sovereign authority, the first Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area, or IMSA, in the United States – the Yurok-Tolowa Dee-ni’ Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area.
Through this MOU, State Parks will also work with the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People to educate the public about the significance of the Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area and its importance to cultural and natural resource protection, as well as its contribution to meeting the State of California’s goals to protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030 (30x30).
“This agreement with the Resighini Tribe represents a formal reconnection with the deep-time knowledge of cultures who have been here for hundreds of generations,” said Armando Quintero, director of California’s State Parks. “Our commitment to working with each other is a commitment to the healthy future of the natural and cultural resources in the state parks which are in the Resighini Tribe’s territory.”
The State Parks Tribal MOU program seeks to facilitate collaboration between California Native American tribes and State Parks by establishing protocols for continuous open discussions and outlining the responsibilities of each party to promote successful cooperation and partnership. This is the 11th MOU between State Parks and a California Native American tribe. The first one was signed on April 13, 2017.
To learn more about the program, please visit www.parks.ca.gov/TribalMOUProgram.
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- Written by: Caltrans
The National Weather Service forecast calls for two additional waves of precipitation bringing rain, snow and gusty winds.
The first wave is expected Saturday with the second stronger wave arriving during the evening on Sunday.
A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. Saturday through 4 a.m. Sunday with 4 to 8 inches of snow expected above 6,000 feet.
Motorists should be prepared for chain controls, reduced visibility, additional travel times and delays.
Caltrans advises to pack extra supplies in the event of an emergency or if traffic is held for an extended period of time. Those supplies should include extra snacks, water, a blanket and a flashlight.
A winter storm warning has also been issued for the second wave and is in effect from 4 p.m. Sunday through 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, with 1 to 2 feet of snow expected above 5,500 feet, 3 to 4 feet at the highest peaks, and wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour.
In the Sacramento Valley, rain amounts are forecast between 0.5 and 1 inch for the first wave and an additional 2 to 3 inches for the second wave. The highest amounts are anticipated in the foothills with up to 4 inches near Auburn.
Motorists should be prepared for ponding on the roadway and minor flooding in poor drainage areas. Updates to the forecast as the weekend progresses can be found on the National Weather Service website.
Motorists are encouraged to check Caltrans’ QuickMap before traveling for current road conditions and chain requirements or download the QuickMap app from the App Store or Google Play.
Road information is also available on Caltrans’ website or by calling the California Highway Information Network automated phone service at 1-800-427-ROAD (7623).
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The announcement signals the culmination of several months of collaborative investigatory efforts in the CHP’s ongoing fight against retail crime.
The investigation was conducted by the California Department of Justice, CHP, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service along with Ulta’s Loss Prevention Organized Retail Crime team and Sephora Representatives.
It is alleged that the ringleader of the scheme paid more than seven people to steal from Ulta Beauty stores, as well as other retail outlets. The ringleader would then sell the stolen cosmetic items on her Amazon storefront.
“The success of this investigation is due to the collaboration between several of our Organized Retail Crime Task Force teams throughout the state, the CHP’s Computer Crimes Investigation Unit, the DOJ, our federal partners, and retailers. Through increased collaborative efforts, retailers and law enforcement have become more efficient and effective in our fight against organized retail crime,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.
Recognizing the complexity and scale of the operation, in August 2023, federal investigators requested the CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force, or ORCTF, join their ongoing investigation.
In December, simultaneous search warrants were executed by ORCTF investigators in Southern California and the suspects were taken into custody.
The charges, brought by the California DOJ, include organized retail theft, conspiracy, receipt of stolen property and multiple counts of grand theft.
The thefts occurred in Alameda, Placer, Kern, Contra Costa, Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Diego, Sacramento, San Mateo, Solano, Riverside, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Napa, Marin, Tulare, San Bernardino, Sonoma, Ventura and Yolo counties.
Since the inception of the ORCTF in 2019, the CHP has been involved in more than 2,300 investigations leading to the arrest of more than 2,200 suspects and the recovery of over 761,000 stolen goods valued at $41.7 million.
If you witness one of these crimes occurring, do not attempt to intervene — call 9-1-1. Members of the public and retailers can also report retail crime tips directly through the CHP’s website.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Center for Biological Diversity last week petitioned for federal protection of Sierra Nevada red foxes in the Oregon and California Cascades, from Lassen Peak to Mt. Hood.
The petition asks that the fox be listed as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
“These precious mountain foxes need our help if they’re going to have any chance at survival in our rapidly warming world,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. “The problems facing the Sierra Nevada red fox are complex and mounting, as they are for so many species in the mountains of western North America.”
In response to a previous Center petition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protected a fox population near Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada as endangered. But in 2015 the Service denied the fox protection in the Cascades, citing lack of information.
Since then, considerable research has shown that fox populations in Lassen, Crater Lake National Park, the Central Cascades and Mt. Hood are isolated, exceedingly small and facing multiple threats.
The fox once ranged throughout high-elevation areas of the Cascades in forests and alpine meadows. But the species has been lost from large portions of its range, including Mt. Shasta. Poisoning as part of historic predator eradication efforts and trapping were primary drivers of the fox’s historic decline.
Today the fox is threatened by habitat loss caused by fires, logging, livestock grazing and development, increased recreation and climate change, which is pushing the fox’s habitat off the top of mountains.
An additional threat is competition and predation from coyotes, which have proliferated in the Cascades in the absence of wolves. Coyotes are likely to move uphill as snowpacks recede with warming.
“The harms we’re doing to the natural world are accumulating and interacting in complex ways to the detriment of animals like the Sierra Nevada red fox,” said Greenwald. “Historic killing of predators, including wolves and the fox, have left the fox vulnerable to coyotes and risks inherent to small populations. And now, increased interest in outdoor recreation and global warming represent new and growing threats to the fox.”
The fox’s surviving populations are critically small. The population found in the Lassen area, for example, was recently estimated to contain fewer than 10 breeding adults. The other populations are not much bigger.
These foxes are uniquely adapted to living in snowy, cold environments. Along with their small body size, they have a thick coat and fur-covered pads on their feet, allowing them to stay warm and travel over snow.
They come in three color phases — a classic red phase, a black phase with silver tips to the fur, and a cross of the two. In all phases, they have a white-tipped tail and black markings on the back of the ears.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
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