It has been a rough summer at Kings Canyon National Park in California, where a forest fire closed in on the park and forced the closure of Cedar Grove on the floor of the park. Now park officials say they don't know when access to Cedar Grove will be restored.
Because of the impacts of the Rough Fire on Cedar Grove and the road to it, California Highway 180, the still ongoing battle against the fire, and occasional rock falls from unstable cliff faces above the highway, park officials say it would be unsafe to open the road -- the only vehicle access to Cedar Grove -- to the public.
Currently, park managers are working with fire staff, local, and state government agencies, and other stakeholders to make assessments of the area. This includes a specialized fire response group known as a BAER (Burned Area Emergency Response) Team, which looks at short-term and long-term effects the fire had on the ecosystem and infrastructure.
Park officials say they hope Cedar Grove will be open for normal operations in 2016.
Comments
For those who aren't familiar with Kings Canyon NP, Cedar Grove closes for the winter every year around this time. So unless the closure extends through next summer, this isn't anything unusual.