WawonaNews.com - May 2022
Entrance Station Expectations During Peak Hours Reservations
With the start of the peak hours reservation system from 6am to 4pm, commuters need to plan for possible long entrance station lines. Additionally, there will likely be unpredictable traffic patterns, especially around the 4pm transition when visitors without reservations are waiting to get in. Please plan accordingly, be patient, drive safely, and show kindness to the entrance station rangers. They are working hard to get you to your destination as efficiently as possible. Thank you! (P. Davis)
With the start of the peak hours reservation system from 6am to 4pm, commuters need to plan for possible long entrance station lines. Additionally, there will likely be unpredictable traffic patterns, especially around the 4pm transition when visitors without reservations are waiting to get in. Please plan accordingly, be patient, drive safely, and show kindness to the entrance station rangers. They are working hard to get you to your destination as efficiently as possible. Thank you! (P. Davis)
Tioga Road Opening Friday, May 27
Tioga Road (the continuation of Highway 120 through the park) is scheduled to open to vehicular traffic on Friday, May 27, 2022, at 9 am. A reservation is required to drive into *or through* Yosemite between 6 am and 4 pm through September 30; this includes travelers passing through the park on Tioga Road. Visit https://go.nps.gov/reserve for more information.
Road work has already begun in the Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows areas. Expect delays of up to 30 minutes during the day and one hour at night from Sunday nights through Friday afternoons.
Glacier Point Road is closed this year due to a major road rehabilitation project.
Tioga Road (the continuation of Highway 120 through the park) is scheduled to open to vehicular traffic on Friday, May 27, 2022, at 9 am. A reservation is required to drive into *or through* Yosemite between 6 am and 4 pm through September 30; this includes travelers passing through the park on Tioga Road. Visit https://go.nps.gov/reserve for more information.
Road work has already begun in the Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows areas. Expect delays of up to 30 minutes during the day and one hour at night from Sunday nights through Friday afternoons.
Glacier Point Road is closed this year due to a major road rehabilitation project.
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Trail Crew Blasting Operations May 24
Trail Crew is planning to blast a boulder on the Chilnualna Falls Trail out of Wawona on Tuesday, May 24. There will be short closures on the trail that day. (G. Torres) |
June will be the third installment of our semi-monthly Wawona community education program. The topic will be evacuations: planning for them, executing them, and re-entry following them. This will be held June 7 at 5PM at Wawona Community Center. Please forward to anyone who may be interested.
Employees and partners: There will be additional meetings in the future which will cover the operational and internal side of things, like we have done in years past. This training is geared for those people living and working in the community who may need to evacuate due to a natural or manmade disaster or other issue.
Thank you!
Heidi L. Edgecomb
U.S. Park Ranger
Operations Supervisor - Wawona District
Yosemite National Park
Employees and partners: There will be additional meetings in the future which will cover the operational and internal side of things, like we have done in years past. This training is geared for those people living and working in the community who may need to evacuate due to a natural or manmade disaster or other issue.
Thank you!
Heidi L. Edgecomb
U.S. Park Ranger
Operations Supervisor - Wawona District
Yosemite National Park
CAL FIRE Announces Suspension of Burn Permits in Madera, Mariposa and Merced Counties Effective Monday, May 23, 2022
May 17, 2022 - Sierra Sun Times
Mariposa – California has already experienced an unusually early start to fire season amidst an ongoing drought and historically low rainfall and reservoir levels. While wildfires are a natural part of California's landscape, the fire season in California and across the west is starting earlier and ending later each year. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.
The increasing fire danger posed by dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting CAL FIRE to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Area of Madera, Mariposa and Merced Counties. This suspension takes effect May 23 and bans all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.
“California wildfires continue to threaten our communities,” said Chief Joe Tyler, CAL FIRE Director. “With the conditions set for an early start of the 2022 fire season, it is imperative that we collectively take preventative steps now to prepare, and we ask all Californians to do their part in wildfire preparedness.”
“Approximately 95% of all wildfires in California are caused by human activity, and we are entering the summer months under severe drought” said Chief van Loben Sels, Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit Chief. “The dry conditions throughout the state have created a situation where a fire could easily spark, so we ask everyone to be cautious outdoors and to maintain fire safety awareness.”
May 17, 2022 - Sierra Sun Times
Mariposa – California has already experienced an unusually early start to fire season amidst an ongoing drought and historically low rainfall and reservoir levels. While wildfires are a natural part of California's landscape, the fire season in California and across the west is starting earlier and ending later each year. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.
The increasing fire danger posed by dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting CAL FIRE to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Area of Madera, Mariposa and Merced Counties. This suspension takes effect May 23 and bans all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.
“California wildfires continue to threaten our communities,” said Chief Joe Tyler, CAL FIRE Director. “With the conditions set for an early start of the 2022 fire season, it is imperative that we collectively take preventative steps now to prepare, and we ask all Californians to do their part in wildfire preparedness.”
“Approximately 95% of all wildfires in California are caused by human activity, and we are entering the summer months under severe drought” said Chief van Loben Sels, Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit Chief. “The dry conditions throughout the state have created a situation where a fire could easily spark, so we ask everyone to be cautious outdoors and to maintain fire safety awareness.”
Are You Fire Ready?
May is Wildfire Awareness Month and a good time to start preparing for defensible space inspections that will occur in the local Yosemite communities mid-June. Defensible space is the buffer you create between building(s) on your property and the surrounding vegetation (grass, trees, shrubs).
Creating and maintaining defensible space is essential to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and can help protect your home from catching fire. It is also important for the safety of firefighters who may be in the area during a wildland fire. Help keep the community safer from fire spread by ensuring your home meets the recommendations, visit www.readyforwildfire.org for more information.
May is Wildfire Awareness Month and a good time to start preparing for defensible space inspections that will occur in the local Yosemite communities mid-June. Defensible space is the buffer you create between building(s) on your property and the surrounding vegetation (grass, trees, shrubs).
Creating and maintaining defensible space is essential to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and can help protect your home from catching fire. It is also important for the safety of firefighters who may be in the area during a wildland fire. Help keep the community safer from fire spread by ensuring your home meets the recommendations, visit www.readyforwildfire.org for more information.
Park Visitor Reservations System For 2022
For peak hours reservation system this summer no form is needed. Reservation holders of a vacation rental property in Wawona, Yosemite West, or Foresta do not receive a form from the landowner or property mgmt. We only did a form letter in 2020. The property owners/managers fill out a spreadsheet of all of their paying guests that is imported every night and populates our reservation database. This allows us to look up the reservation holder's name at the gates. All vacation rental owners should have received a unique link for their guests.
For the guest showing up at the gate, they will need to:
For non-paying guests, write or email them a note with the owner’s name and local address, the name(s) of the guests and the dates they would be staying with you.
Parker Davis
For peak hours reservation system this summer no form is needed. Reservation holders of a vacation rental property in Wawona, Yosemite West, or Foresta do not receive a form from the landowner or property mgmt. We only did a form letter in 2020. The property owners/managers fill out a spreadsheet of all of their paying guests that is imported every night and populates our reservation database. This allows us to look up the reservation holder's name at the gates. All vacation rental owners should have received a unique link for their guests.
For the guest showing up at the gate, they will need to:
- show the ID (or copy of ID) of the reservation holder
- have some proof of their reservation (typically an email)
- be sure to print or take a screenshot prior to arriving at the gate since there will likely be no cell service
For non-paying guests, write or email them a note with the owner’s name and local address, the name(s) of the guests and the dates they would be staying with you.
Parker Davis
Wawona Hotel Brochure From the 1930s
