Last week, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center announced that the current La Niña weather conditions, which formed in January, have already dissipated. La Niña conditions are associated with cooler surface water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and stronger trade winds. Typically, this results in drier weather in the southern and southwestern parts of…
Editor’s Note: On April 10, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 22, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The legislation goes to the Senate next. If passed, it would require people to prove that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote. Republicans argued the legislation, is necessary to ensure only…
Last week, President Donald Trump signed another Executive Order promoting domestic energy production and limiting the states’ ability to curb actions encouraging climate change. Trump’s EO is intended to maintain U.S. energy dominance, which he believes some state laws are thwarting. “American energy dominance is threatened when State and local governments seek to regulate energy…
On April 4, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued a Secretarial Memorandum declaring an emergency situation in the forested lands of the U.S. National Forest System. Her intent is to expand timber production on these federal lands. Rollins’ memorandum follows President Donald Trump’s March 1 Executive Order which directed the Secretaries of Agriculture and the…
At the march meeting of the Mountain Area Safety Taskforce, Reba Coulter, founder of Idyllwild’s Forest Folk Shuttle service, asked about evacuation plans for residents who have mobility challenges or do not have a car. Sgt. Frank James, of the Riverside Sheriff’s Office, spoke of the protocols developed to evacuate summer camps, where many young…
Idyllwild Fire Protection District Chief Mark LaMont told the District’s commissioners at their March 25 meeting that funding has been “paused” for the largest grant IPFD has ever received, last year’s nearly-$940 thousand CalFire Wildfire Prevention Grant. In a phone interview, LaMont clarified that IFPD has received their “release of funds notification” letter for that…
Hector Cardenas is the new proprietor of the Green Thing Nursery. Locals may know him for his spoken word performances and his efforts to provide a platform for poets with the Idyllwild Poetry Society. But he also has experience in the nursery business. His uncle George owned a production nursery in Bonsall, and as a…
The Rotary Club of Idyllwild is all-in on fire prevention with their latest project, “Great Abate.” Designed to enhance fire safety in the community, the initiative targets residents who cannot clear hazardous overgrowth around their properties due to circumstances like age, disability, or financial hardship. Rotarian Ygnacio “Nacho” Garcia, also a field supervisor for the…
Recently retired State Park Ranger Robert Peek visited the Idyllwild Library on Tuesday, April 8, to discuss his memoir, Grandpa Ranger. Peek talked of the process that aspiring rangers must undergo to become law enforcement officers and the challenges he faced as the oldest applicant in his class. He became a ranger at 53. Peek…
Have you noticed the barrels of flowers around town—in front of Town Hall and at the welcome sign on 243? What about the hanging baskets in front of the new restrooms? Who keeps up the gardens at the Historical Society and the pollinator garden at the Nature Center? The answer to all these questions is…
