Friends of the High Lakes

As of today, NO camping, in addition to an earlier order for no fires and no smoking in the Lassen, Plumas, Tahoe, Eldorado National Forests. That means no camping in the High Lakes. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Int/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd799561.pdf

Smokin’ Duck Road is now getting maintenance on the lower portion that washes each year. It would appear they will be putting in ~14 more of these large rolling dips (generally eliminating the culverts as is current best practice), as they brought a dozer, not a grader. It will be interesting in the winter, as now there will be 14 places that water runs across the road under the snow. Also, early testing shows that with the current shaping, one needs to be going at least 25 mph to catch air. Expect some delays.

The ‘Vid Strikes Again - Volunteering The Lassen NF has cancelled all Volunteer Agreements for the year (unless the org has an approved COVID plan in place), and is also not doing any new ones until their COVID restrictions end. So it seems our choice for the rest of the Federal fiscal year (end of Sept), and probably awhile after that too, is either cease doing official group or individual volunteering, or prepare a COVID Preparedness Plan and try to get it approved by th...e LNF. Official means a OF301a/b Volunteer Agreement is in place, which is what FOTHL does, and it covers those who sign in with liability coverage and allows us to just do certain pre-agreed trail maintenance work without specific approvals for every single thing. (Ours is posted in "Notes") But, since we know nothing about making COVID plans, there is no LNF-approved group (FOTHL or clubs) or individual volunteering in the High Lakes, for awhile. We will revisit the Volunteer Agreement over the winter and hopefully have it ready for Spring work - ‘Vid permitting! Under current ops, if you see something that needs to be done, we can have the OHV patrol guys come take a look, and they can do the work, or it may get passed to the Trails Unlimited guys.

Anybody want these back?

Still the best way to actually communicate in the High Lakes. Go for it!