California
This popular California camp is 100 years old
Yosemite’s waterfalls at peak flows
Yosemite’s waterfalls are at peak flows right now.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – A beloved and storied family camp where memories have been made by generations of San Franciscans, including one who later became a Supreme Court justice, is celebrating a milestone 100th anniversary.
San Francisco’s Camp Mather is located just outside the gates of Yosemite National Park in Tuolumne County.
The city first came to the area during the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam which til today along with Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System supplies drinking water to San Francisco. The site was built as a sawmill.
“When the O’Shaughnessy Dam was completed, many of the facilities were no longer needed,” the city’s recreation and parks department wrote on its website, adding, “In the mid 1920’s, the City of San Francisco designated the property for use as a family recreation area.”
Over the past 100 years, the site, nestled among towering pine trees, has served as a getaway for the city’s residents seeking to get off the grid for a respite away from city life and be immersed in nature.
“Camp Mather offers city residents a unique weeklong outdoor experience, with activities including horseback riding, swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, a ropes course, tennis, archery, campfire talent shows and more,” the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department said.
Campers take part in a wide range of activities at Camp Mather in Groveland, Calif., which is marking its 100th anniversary. (San Francisco Recreation and Parks )
Generations of families have spent summer days at Camp Mather, which has also served as a launchpad for scenic trips to surrounding iconic locations, including Yosemite Valley and the Tuolumne Meadows.
File of Camp Mather attendees around the camp fire. (San Francisco Recreation and Parks )
The rich history of Camp Mather dates back even before the pioneers settled in California, as the land was home to a group of Miwok Indians.
The city’s rec and park department said, today there are still reminders and evidence of the Miwok’s presence as artifacts once belonging to the indigenous people were occasionally discovered in the area.
Mather has stood the test of time and the wrath of nature, surviving wildfire threats including the massive Rim Fire back in 2013.
Among the list of notable figures that have come through was retired Supreme Court Justice and San Francisco native Stephen Breyer who worked at Mather as a teenager, according to park officials.
On the Friends of Camp Mather website, he’s quoted as speaking about his experience at Camp Mather, describing it as a communal environment where “Anyone could go.”
Breyer went on to say, “You had a mix of the families of firemen, policemen, and doctors and lawyers. They all felt an obligation to be part of the community and to contribute to the community.”
Parks officials said today, the site carried that same spirit. The camp hosts inclusive “special weeks” like those designated for families with kids with disabilities, as well as those designed for seniors and a special program for “justice-involved youth,” parks spokesperson Tamara Aparton shared with KTVU.
Due to the intense popularity of Camp Mather, the city has set up a lottery which opens in December. Both residents and non-residents can sign up, but the lottery does prioritize resident requests first.
Low-income San Francisco residents may be eligible for a discounted rate.
Either cabin or tent site rentals are offered during the weekly reservation schedule, which started June 2 this season. The final week of camp goes from August 11 to 17.
For residents, lodging fees run from as low as $322 a week for a six-person tent site to $1,367 for a six-person cabin.
Tradition runs deep at Camp Mather with folks returning year after year to create more memories.
“Our oldest employee (in his mid-90s) works there leading nature hikes, and also worked there as a high school kid,” Aparton shared.
A scroll through the Camp Mather Facebook page shows scenic photso posted by visitors over the years, conjuring up images of childhood summers spent in the warm outdoors.
One Camp Mather attendee posted about his and his family’s activity-filled stay earlier this month.
“Arts and crafts, ropes course, archery, nature walks, talent show, definitely old timey camp vibes,” Matt Gripp said. “If you got little ones and live in SF try to get into the lottery.”
This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.
San Francisco Camp Mather near Yosemite National Park celebrates 100 years of tradition. (San Francisco Recreation and Parks )
This autumn brought something that isn’t always common for much of California — a decent amount of rain in October. Rather than heat waves, there have been umbrellas.
After years in which some of the worst wildfires in state history happened in the fall, a lot of people are wondering: Is fire season over?
It depends on where you live, fire experts say. And simply put, there’s more risk in Southern California right now than Northern California.
“We have not yet seen enough rain in Southern California to end fire season,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “But we probably have in Northern California.”
January saw historic, devastating fires in Los Angeles. Since then, it has been a relatively mild fire year statewide in California.
Through Monday Oct. 27, a total of 522,372 acres have burned statewide in areas overseen by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the U.S. Forest Service. That’s a drop of 40% from the previous 5-year average of 1.3 million acres over the same time. A big part of the reason is the early onset of rain.
Through Thursday, San Jose had received 2 inches of rain, more than four times its historical average for the month of October. Oakland had 1.64 inches — double its historical average of 0.84. Sacramento’s total also was double the historical average, and Santa Rosa and San Francisco were at 125% and 113% of normal for the month.
Farther south, Fresno was at 223% of normal, with 1.18 inches, and Los Angeles had received 252% of normal with 1.41 inches. But a few areas, including San Diego and Palm Springs, remain below normal. And nearly all of Southern California’s rain came in one storm on Oct. 15. After that, temperatures have soared back up, hitting 97 in Los Angeles this week.
On Wednesday the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. With forecasts for strong winds that day, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that 129 firefighters, 10 engines and three helicopters would be pre-positioned in case fires started in those areas.
But in Northern California, the trend has been just the opposite.
Cal Fire cancelled a controlled burn planned for Wednesday at the Soquel Demonstration Forest in Santa Cruz County aimed at reducing overgrown brush. The reason: brush and trees were too damp.
The day before, Cal Fire officials had planned to burn 52 acres in San Mateo County in a controlled fire east of Interstate 280 near Belmont and Crystal Springs Reservoir. They gave up after 6 acres because only grass and not heavier vegetation like coyote brush would burn, said Sarah Collamer, a Cal Fire forester who was overseeing the operations.
“We’re still in fire season,” she said. “We are getting small starts. They are going until we put them out. But the fire danger is greatly reduced.”
Illustrating her point, last Thursday, a fire broke out east of downtown San Jose at Alum Rock Park. Cal Fire sent a plane to drop retardant on it. But it was put out at 10 acres and caused no damage. A grass fire that began near Altamont Pass in Alameda County last Sunday burned 20 acres and was easily contained by fire crews.
Moisture levels are key. As most campers know, wet wood doesn’t burn. When California is in droughts and heat waves, moisture levels in plants plummet. After rains and cooler temperatures, along with higher humidity levels, moisture levels go up. Then, fires may start in grass, but they don’t spread easily to damp brush and trees, particularly if there aren’t strong winds.
“Right now you could get a grass fire going,” said Craig Clements, director of the Fire Weather Research Laboratory at San Jose State University. “But whether or not it will end up being a big fire is unlikely. We are seeing the hills green up already from the early rain. It looks like January right now in the East Bay Hills.”
Overall, national experts say California is in good shape. The 7-day forecast from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho has “little or no fire risk” for all of California except part of southern California from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border where it is listed as “low risk.” And more rain is forecast in Northern California on Wednesday.
Fire experts disagree on whether there is an exact amount of rain each fall that signals the end of fire season. Often, supervisors of controlled burns wait until at least 1 inch has fallen, Clements said.
Dan Cayan, a research meteorologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, published a study in 2022 showing that since World War II, 90% of the acres burned in Southern California have burned before 0.35 of an inch of rain has fallen in autumn. After that, fires can still start during winter dry spells and high Santa Ana winds, he said. But they are much less likely.
“Northern California is doing pretty well,” he said. The dividing line this fall between wetter-than-normal and drier-than-normal runs through L.A. County. We’ve had some slight rain in San Diego, but it has been nearly three weeks with nothing. We’re still in a vulnerable situation down here.”
Many of California’s worst wildfires have occurred in the fall, including the Oakland Hills Fire in October 1991; the Camp Fire in Paradise, in November 2018; and the Tubbs Fire in October 2017, which killed 22 people and burned 5,600 structures in Napa and Sonoma counties.
After those fires, Cal Fire officials and many political leaders began saying that fire season is all year long in California due to warmer conditions from climate change.
To some extent that is true. The devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena this year occurred in January, amid a long, hot, dry spell and winds that reached 100 mph.
But in general, risk goes down when rains start, temperatures cool, and days shorten, experts say. Because of the damp weather this fall, Cal Fire officials have begun to relax back-yard burning rules. Starting Oct. 17, they have allowed it in nearly every Bay Area County and all counties north to the Oregon border, under permits, when it was altogether illegal during the hot summer months.
In winter, Cal Fire stations also reduce staffing from peak levels, although that has not started yet.
“We could still have 80-degree days with winds,” said Capt. Robert Foxworthy, a Cal Fire statewide spokesman. “There’s still a chance of wildfire. We’re not expecting large damaging, destructive fires burning timber and brush because of how much moisture we’ve received. But in some places there is a threat still there.”
Item 1 of 2 The podium for the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen at FBI headquarters in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
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On September 11, FBI agents searched Continuum’s Newport Beach, California, offices, law firm Paul Hastings wrote in a September 12 letter seen by Reuters.
Representatives for Continuum did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment. The FBI is an enforcement arm of the Justice Department. Spokespeople for the agencies did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Cantor Group said the firm upheld the terms of the Zions and Western Alliance loans and did not provide comment on the government scrutiny.
Allen Matkins, a law firm that represents other entities linked to Continuum, wrote in an October 2 letter that it learned on September 11 that certain of its clients were the subject of search warrants “in connection with a pending criminal investigation,” and that a grand jury had been convened in the case.
Prosecutors typically convene a grand jury when they intend to gather more evidence. The letters did not say which specific criminal authority was leading the case or what potential misconduct or individuals it was focused on.
Criminal investigations do not necessarily mean any wrongdoing has occurred and many do not result in charges.
Reuters is reporting the FBI search and probe for the first time. The government scrutiny could have ripple effects for what legal filings and public records show is a complex web of investors and lenders tied to Continuum’s real estate dealings, some of which are entangled in civil litigation.
Paul Hastings and Allen Matkins are representing parties embroiled in a complex real estate dispute. The letters relate to those proceedings. The Allen Matkins letter was disclosed in a California court.
When asked about the letter by Reuters, a lawyer for Paul Hastings said the firm was “working to unravel multiple levels of alleged fraud,” but did not provide more details.
Allen Matkins did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
PASSIVE INVESTORS
Zions on October 15 sued Cantor Group fund guarantors Andrew Stupin and Gerald Marcil, among others, to recover more than $60 million in soured commercial and industrial loans. The next day, Western Alliance flagged that it had sued the pair and a different Cantor fund in August to recover nearly $100 million.
Both suits allege key information was misrepresented or not disclosed, breaching the loan terms. Western Alliance also alleges fraud on the part of the Cantor fund.
Continuum acquires and manages distressed real estate assets for groups of investors, and its largest investors include Stupin and Marcil, according to a February arbitration ruling related to the real estate dispute. That ruling found Cantor “consists solely” of Continuum’s legal owner, Deba Shyam, and shares the Continuum offices. Shyam did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Cantor upheld its contractual obligations and was transparent with its lenders, while the loans were audited and independently reviewed multiple times over the years, said the Cantor attorney Brandon Tran, who also represents Stupin and Marcil.
The pair are passive investors in Cantor and held no operational roles, he added. Cantor in legal filings has disputed that the Western Alliance loan is in default.
In a statement, Marcil said he had invested in several of Continuum’s properties. He denied wrongdoing and said that he was a victim.
Spokespeople for Zions and Western Alliance did not respond to requests for comment.
Reporting by Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice; Editing by Michelle Price
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
California air quality officials have sued four truck manufacturers for breaching a voluntary agreement to follow the state’s nation-leading emissions rules, the state announced Tuesday.
What happened: Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office filed a complaint Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, arguing that the country’s four largest truck-makers — Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar and Volvo North America — violated an enforceable contract that they signed with the California Air Resources Board in 2023.
The lawsuit comes two months after the manufacturers filed their own complaint in federal court, arguing the agreement — known as the Clean Truck Partnership — is no longer valid after Republicans overturned California’s Advanced Clean Truck rule in June through the Congressional Review Act.
Why it matters: The move sets up a fight to determine whether the federal system or state courts — where CARB would have a higher likelihood of prevailing — will review the case.
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