Greetings from Yosemite National Park

Retired California State Parks Ranger have spent many years visiting Yosemite N.P. from childhood through adulthood. Currently there is a program by the park’s management to clear cut critical endangered species and other wildlife’s critical habitats. I have spent decades trying to fight heartless and greedy corporations like Sierra Pacific Industries here who clear cut our entire once beautiful mountain range around our wilderness ranch in the mountains of Northern California (Shasta County). SPI totally wiped out the old growth fir and pine trees and destroyed critical habitat for the endangered Northern Spotted Owl and the threatened Pacific Fisher. The foresters from Cal Fire mostly hired from SPI stated on the THP plans as did our Ca. Fish and Wildlife Department that there was absolutely no adverse effect to the wildlife or the environment from CLEAR CUTTING our entire mountain range into slash and dirt. We recently relocated to a ranch that we bought outside of Yosemite N.P. in the hopes that in our retirement that the park being so storied and grandiose would remain beautiful and relatively unspoiled. We now have a wildfire entering the Mariposa Grove of Ancient Redwoods undoubtably started by a careless park visitor in addition to the clear cutting undoubtably being done by SPI. Most people are unaware that the United States Forest Service is swapping out beautifully forested treed parcels for clearcut parcels from SPI. I never even had one Internal Affairs Investigation in my entire long law enforcement career including some of the most violent areas of the country like a long stint in the public housing projects in San Francisco yet I was constantly threatened and harassed by SPI and the noted public agencies for “making complaints” against SPI and their illegal logging tactics. We have always had a close association with our state and federal fire fighters using our wilderness ranch many times as a safe zone where we hunkered down with these brave and heroic men and women. The rest of the personnel of these public agencies that are supposed to be guarding our wildlife and natural resources are doing exactly the opposite and selling our heritage, our wildlife, our forests and our wildlands to SPI who are the largest private landowner in the entire state of California. I have spent my entire adult life trying to protect all of this for all of us especially our kids but we are losing the battle to corrupt and greedy politicians, corporations and corrupt public agencies. I would include a photograph of our once beautiful ranch which is still pristine and forested with huge Black oaks, Douglass Firs, Ponderosa and Jefferey Pines but the thousands of acres of once incredibly beautiful old growth forested land teeming with wildlife is now a wasteland of slash and dirt. Keep up the fight NPCA I know from personal experience how difficult and dangerous speaking out for our wildlife and wildlands is………..

Sincerely,
Neil