Audio Tour of the Rim Fire

If you are driving near Yosemite [or just want to listen] take a minute and download an audio tour of the Rim Fire.  The 11 stop tour, which begins from the Groveland Ranger District Office, is marked with numbered posts. An interpretive flyer can downloaded or obtained at the Groveland Ranger Station to guide you along the way.

The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park burned 257,314 acres was the largest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada, and the third largest wildfire in California history. It started on August 17th 2013, and was finally contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013 – the day these photographs were made. The current drought in California [and the West]  is increasing frequency of these megafires that are more catastrophic in scope, demanding new approaches to firefighting and forest restoration.

Interesting to note with the development of more of these catastrophic fires that the US Forest Service decided to log all of the Rim Fire’s ‘ghost’ trees. While there was no dollar estimate attached, the Forest Service will be selling more board feet of timber as a result of the Rim fire than the combined total sold last year in all of California’s national forests. The plan was not approved without controversy.

But don’t worry, I heard this week we still have 3 trillion trees left in the world. If that number is correct that’s about 400 trees for every person on earth, with that number decreasing every year. I wonder if we should move breathing a little higher on the priority list.

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