Kern River Conservancy

Does it ever stop??? Four large barrels of acetone (used for making meth) were found on the river shore by some anglers this morning. Law Enforcement and Environmental Health were dispatched to investigate and collect the barrels. This kind of crap really needs to stop! The amount of illegal dumping occurring on the Lower Kern has gotten out of control.

Are you taking part in #LeaveNoTrash for Earth Week? Give nature a spring cleaning this week and show how much you care. Make sure to t use the hashtag #keepkernclean

Happy Earth Week! We celebrated today with 85 volunteers who participated in a cleanup around Lake Isabella. Some traveled as far from Bakersfield, Los Angeles and San Diego to help out. Thank you to Subaru Ambassadors MTN-ROO for coming out with a big crew, the U.S. Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest and to the Cesar Chavez Environmental Corps for sending some help and our sponsors from Thomas Refuse for donating portable restrooms and a wash station for the volunteers and a BIG thank you to Eddy Out Tap House and Grill for feeding all of us after the cleanup and thank you to the Southern Sierra Fly Fishers for their generous donation after the event. (sorry for all the ands)

Our Earth Day event is officially underway!

Fundraiser Alert OUR BIGGEST FUNDRAISER of the year is here. GIVE BIG KERN is officially underway. Please donate to keep us funded all summer long and help our volunteers and staff get the tools needed to keep our Mighty Kern River Wild & Scenic. https://www.givebigkern.org/organiza/kern-river-conservancy

Happy Earth Day!!!! Have you thought about donating to our Give Big Kern fundraiser? Help us paddle to a cleaner river with a donation of any amount. The summer camping season is upon us and we need all the help to keep the Kern clean.

Our friends at Something Sweeter Forzen Yogurt in Kernville repping our #keepkernclean pins for #earthday

It might look like this campfire is out but it’s not. The ash and coals were still hot and as you can see, the light winds were blowing the hot ash out of the fire pit and into the dry grass. Remember to always put out your campfire. This is the most important step! EXTINGUISH THE FIRE: Campers need to properly maintain and extinguish campfires when going to bed or leaving the area. Pour water on the fire to drown all embers, not just the red ones. Once this is done, stir ev...erything in the pit with a shovel and test for heat with the back of your hand. Smokey Bear U.S. Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest Kern County Fire Department CAL FIRE See more

Spring and summer activities often find visitors and their children near rivers and streams, enjoying nature's serene sounds or cooling sore feet from a long day's hike. It's important to understand water safety in and around these tempting waters. What can seem peaceful, warm and shallow can prove to be deceptively cold and easily overwhelm the strongest individuals. Each year, unexpected victims, whether purposefully in the water (boating, swimming, wading or crossing strea...ms) or accidentally in the water (scrambling on rocks or even falling while hiking), find themselves in a water rescue situation. U.S. Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest Kern County Fire Department Bakersfield Fire Department Kern Valley Search and Rescue Bureau of Land Management - California Kern County Sheriff's Office Tulare County Sheriff's Office See more

We’re having our first public cleanup in honor of Earth Day on Saturday April 24 at Boulder Gulch Campground. Click on the event link for more info. Hope to see you there!

Happy Earth Day!!! Do your part by picking up some trash today around the river and lake, take a pic and show it to KRBC and they will give you a beer for just .25. Get out and keep the kern clean and enjoy a beer when you’re done.

Who's ready to celebrate Earth Week with us?

It’s been a trashy week but let’s sit back and enjoy the very reason why we love this place so much, it’s beauty. : @sara.llynn

Do you about @leavenotracecenter? Swipe to learn more

This reminder also goes for camping and hiking in Sequoia National Forest.

Chico Flat Restoration Project Takes Shape by Dani Dayton, Sequoia National Forest Visitor Information Services Specialist Many visitors to the Kern River Range...r District of the Sequoia National Forest cherish the dispersed recreation areas along the Upper Kern River as havens for free, self-contained riverside camping that, owing to their lower elevation and ease of access from Mountain 99, are generally available for use year-round. With their colorful array of communal camping setups in a wide-open space, dispersed areas on a busy weekend more resemble a tailgate party than a traditional campground. This was never more true than during the summer of 2020 when the Kern River Ranger District, and these areas, in particular, experienced a camping tsunami, bringing visitors in record numbers to the Sequoia National Forest when many other recreation areas in Southern California were closed due to COVID-19. Because these designated dispersed areas are so easily accessible (and handy to hotels if newly minted outdoor enthusiasts become less-than-enthused with the outdoors), they make a good option for first-time campers. However, with that inexperience can come a lack of awareness of basic outdoor recreation principles such as those described by Leave No Trace and, consequently, little understanding of the lasting effects of resource damage. According to District Ranger Alfred Watson, the summer of 2020 saw unprecedented visitation. District recreation staff took extraordinary measures to minimize impact on public lands stated Watson. The Forest Service provided additional waste disposal options for campers and relied more than ever on volunteer efforts to aid in clean-up when even large, roll-away style dumpsters proved insufficient to contain the mountains of garbage left behind. However, despite these groups' herculean efforts, the dispersed recreation area known as Chico Flat suffered resource damage. The damage was significant enough to warrant its closure by Forest Order 0513-20-37 through May 27, 2021. The closure order will allow enough time for clean-up and riparian restoration efforts to occur during the winter season when precipitation, generally sparse in warmer seasons, aids in establishing newly planted vegetation, Watson explained. Recent rain and snow in the Kern River Valley finally provided the Forest Service and volunteers optimum conditions to begin replanting the area. Approximately 30 volunteers, including employees of the Kern River Ranger District, members of the local Kern River Conservancy and Keepers of the Kern groups, and folks from as far away as Palmdale, came together this past Saturday, January 30 to accomplish this task, he added. When asked about his volunteer group’s participation in the project, Kern River Conservancy Executive Director and Founder, Gary Ananian, said, I think the best part of planting trees in the forest is being in a moment of Zen. It’s the ultimate volunteer opportunity to help create and give life to a suffering forest." During this event, over 100 native trees, including Live Oak, Grey Pine, Sugar Pine, and Desert Willow, as well as over 200 cuttings from Willow, Cottonwood, Green Ash and White Alder species that grow near the Kern River, were planted in locations appropriate to their needs. Additionally, volunteers removed trash and relocated boulders to keep visitors from driving off the recreation area's designated routes. What can you do to help? Besides taking care not to trample or drive over vegetation, visitors can help maintain their public lands by practicing "pack it in, pack it out" methods. "Pack it in, pack it out" means leaving with everything you came with and used.

12 bags of trash collected at the Johnsondale Bridge trailhead. What a mess! Big shout out to Southern Sierra Fly Fishers and the Forest Service for helping keep our mighty Kern, Wild & Scenic.

The most majestic of them all. The American Bald Eagle perched on a tree along the Kern River just below the Johnsondale Bridge. There have been many sightings recently on the Kern of these beautiful eagles from up here in Sequoia National Forest down to the river banks of the Kern in Bakersfield. Thank you Bonnie Kopp for capturing these amazing photos.

Big shout out the Moneywise Wealth Management team in Bakersfield for joining us on the river today for their company outing and river cleanup. Looking forward to being on your show and thank you also for donating to our river cleanups cause.

Great day on the river with our partners from U.S. Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest and Keepers of the KERN planting trees, picking up garbage and cleaning graffiti. All in all we planted over 100 trees in an area that saw heavy user impact and damage from last summer.

It’s Trivia Thursday!!! What do we have here? A. Lounge viewing area of the forest? B. Crossfit training? C. Illegal dump?... D. Tell us how you really feel See more

Don’t forget to pack your beach towel and some sunscreen

Listen to the River. Look at the River and love the River. Don’t trash it!

Dear Diary.... Mood: Apathetic. Sincerely, Kern River Conservancy. As you can see, someone tried to bury a 100 pound cooler fridge In the river bank. They realized it was a lot more difficult then it appeared so they gave up and left it just for us. Thanks!

Well, with the pandemic keeping people out of work and school, we are seeing large crowds of visitors once again recreating during a time of year we usually don’t see much visitor traffic. If you plan on visiting Sequoia National Forest, please recreate responsibly. Please use trash bins and portable toilets that are provided at open day use sites and STOP tagging the forest!!! Thank you to the Forest Service; the Democrat Fire Crew and Whitewater Voyages for lending a big hand to help us with this disaster of trash.

Two Bald Eagles enjoying some snow and sun on Lake Isabella. : @blackowlmedia

A new update from our district. Please read and be aware of the current covid restrictions on the Kern River and Lake Isabella.

The first live snow survey of the year is Dec. 30, but you may be asking why should I care? Here’s a great video to explain just that...

Looking for easy ways to help us? Just watch, register and make a difference.

How 2021 is going so far in Sequoia National Forest

Happy Winter Solstice!

Campground closures on the Kern River and Lake Isabella have been extended till January 31, 2021.

Smokey Bear is back! On behalf of all of us here at Kern River Conservancy, U.S. Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest and to all who donated, with your help we were able get a new Smokey Bear sign put back up after it was stolen.

Santa sent his little fly fishing elves out to pick up some trash along the river today. Lots of dirty diapers in the river Thank you Sergio and Derek!

The rains have arrived : @garyananian

This year got you feeling like trash? Feel a little better by doing your part to clean things up! Join us the week of October 26thNovember 1st to #LeaveNoTrash. Get outside, pick up some trash and post your efforts to social media, making sure to use the hashtag #LeaveNoTrash and #keepkern. Plus take this pledge to participate and tell us how much trash you plan to pick up.

Incase some of you were confused as to whether this is a bbq grill or a trash can, it’s a bbq grill.

Big shout out to one our all star volunteers, @mulligandude from @rangeoutdoors who made a round trip 8 mile hike into the backcountry to cover up some graffiti we were notified about from a hiker. It so sad to see this type of disrespect and vandalism so far out in the backcountry but it won’t stop us from fulfilling our mission to keep the Kern clean and beautiful.

What’s your favorite camping hot sauce? Go!

The Great Kern River Cleanup is back! Be a part of Kern County’s amazing river community as we all get together to beautify our mighty Kern River. Click the event link and sign up today!

We had a joy hosting a small private cleanup today with a group of kids. They grabbed some pickers and went to work collecting micro trash along the river.

Who’s ready for the Fishing Derby???

If you’re in Kernville this weekend make sure to stop by Eddy Out Tap House and Grill as they are having a fundraiser all weekend for Kern Valley Search and Rescue. All proceeds from their beer sales will be donated to help with rescue operations. We’ll be there tonight supporting. Hope to see you too!

New feature on our mobile app. You can now report trash and vandalism on our app to help us get to problem locations quickly. The app is free for both Apple and Android devices.

This summer, we saw a record amount of single use disposable plastic items in the campgrounds.

We just received the green light from the Forest Service to restart volunteer operations and cleanups on the Upper Kern River. If you would like to help out, sign up on our website to get notified.

What would you do?

Award the 50,000 acre feet of water that was forfeited by Kern Delta Irrigation District in 2007 to the City of Bakersfield so that the river can once again flow. This will allow the revival of a critical riparian ecological corridor, the restoration of the pride and joy of the Bakersfield community, and the replenishment of the aquifer beneath the city.

Be careful on your travels once the roads reopen.