Cal Fire is taking the next steps for a draft Forest Management Plan for the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. An advisory group meeting last month led to some changes to the draft, so officials have scheduled another round of public hearings. The first session will be virtual on October 20th from 5 to 7 PM, followed by meetings in Fort Bragg on the 27th, in Ukiah on November 3rd, and in Sacramento on November 10th. Input from those hearings will lead to more potential revisions, with the final plan to be presented to the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection for adoption in early 2026. Demonstration State Forest Program Manager Kevin Conway says the eventual plan will provide for long-term stewardship of the JDSF. There is information on the website jacksonstateforestplan.com.
CalFire is joining with the California Conservation Corps for a meeting to share information about wildfire preparations–and the state of property insurance in California. The session on Thursday evening from 5:30 to 8:30 at the Corps Mendocino Center across from Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits will feature experts who will discuss those topics and answer questions.
California has a new state holiday. Governor Newsom has signed a bill designating the Hindu celebration of Diwali as a day when state employees and public school students could elect to take off. The festival of lights–which occurs in October or November–is also observed by Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists. Two other states–Pennsylvania and Connecticut–also recognize Diwali on their calendars.
Scientists are out with a scary warning about two of the West Coast’s most famous earthquake fault lines and how they could one day sync up to cause a world-altering quake. The study from the University of Oregon says the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone running from Northern California through Oregon and Washington could rupture at almost the same time, setting off a mega quake that could devastate an area from Vancouver to San Francisco and LA The researchers say it’s not something to lose sleep over. Still, the potential is there sometime over the next 500 years. They also say even a single major quake along one of the faults would be catastrophic, given the amount of population growth since the major West Coast earthquakes in 1989 and 1906
