News

Fourth Annual Winter Biathlon pulls off a winner

March 29, 2011

The mountain community of Mammoth Lakes showed its true spirit for the winter sport of Biathlon Sunday in the 4th Annual Mammoth Winter Biathlon. Amidst heavy snowfall of 5-9 feet over the last week, the townspeople overcame blizzard conditions and mobilized in force Sunday morning beginning at 4 a.m. Volunteers built out a 20-point biathlon stadium in order to host more than 200 racers, making this race the largest winter biathlon in North America.

Mammoth High waits for call on Distinguished School status

March 26, 2011

Mammoth High School should know if it becomes one of California’s Distinguished Schools within the “next few weeks” according to district superintendent Rich Boccia.

The announcement, which Boccia said he expects will reveal a “positive outcome” comes on the heels of a state team of administrators that visited the school earlier in March for the formal on-site visitation required by the application process.

“The team spent the day visiting the school, which included an opening meeting with the staff, a meeting with the leadership team and classroom visits,” Boccia said.

Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care seeks volunteers to work with animals

March 26, 2011

When Kelly Bahr became an animal care volunteer for Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care she never imagined she would do physical therapy on a Golden eagle.

But a few weeks ago, she did just that. The eagle was rescued from the shoulder of Hwy. 6 on Matthew Hill midway between Hammil and Benton.

On admission, the female eagle had tightly clenched talons and could only stand on her hocks. While working to find the cause of this problem, ESWC Director Cindy Kamler ordered therapy and Bahr helped implement it.

Big Pine faces fire, Mammoth gets buried

March 26, 2011

As Big Pine residents mourned the loss of homes and property due to a windblown fire this past weekend, Mammoth residents – already buried after a winter that has dumped 44.7 feet (561 inches) of snow on the higher elevations – are waiting out another three to four feet of the white stuff that’s expected to fall by Sunday night.

When Mammoth headed into the second storm of the week early Thursday, it was only 17 inches from becoming the biggest snowfall winter on record – 578.5 inches set in 2005-06 – and it’s not over yet.

Want to work with eagles? Wildlife rehab training this weekend

March 22, 2011

When Kelly Bahr became an animal care volunteer for Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care, she never imagined she would do physical therapy on a Golden eagle. But a few weeks ago, she did just that. The Golden eagle was rescued from the shoulder of Highway 6 on Matthew Hill, mid-way between Hammil and Benton. On admission, the female eagle had tightly clenched talons and could only stand on her hocks. While working to find the cause of this problem, ESWC Director Cindy Kamler ordered therapy and Kelly helped implement it.

Big Pine fire burns 19 structures, fund set up for victims

March 21, 2011

The Center Fire that started outside of Big Pine Friday night burned 19 structures, including homes, and 850 acres before it was considered "contained" or out, last night.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

As many as 400 fire fighters were assigned to the fire over the weekend, although the wind-whipped flames did most of their damage Friday night.

CalFire's website is one of the best places to get the latest data on the fire; http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=482

Here's the latest update from CalFire, filed Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Right on time, bears are waking

March 19, 2011

Don’t let the snowbanks or the cold snap fool you.

Mammoth’s bears are starting to wake up.

You can see them, now and again, lying on top of a snowbank, soaking up some sun before retreating back in their dens.

“The life cycle is beginning again,” said Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles,.

“During the winter we kind of forget about them,” he said. “I know where I live, I can leave stuff out in the garage and it’ll just freeze, and there’s no odor.

Permitted burn raises concern

March 17, 2011

A permitted burn on private ranchland last Saturday, March 12, was visible from Sherwin Summit and had several people calling in to report a fire. Mammoth Times Photos/Leslie Willoughby

Nuclear Disaster Update: THERE IS NO PLUME!!

March 15, 2011

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, as the evolving multiple catastrophic disasters of earthquake, tsunami, radiation, and now freezing cold and snow compound their unimaginable human misery. The images and stories told 24/7 through our media barely scrape the surface of human emotion being felt in Japan, but leave us feeling at once sad, helpless, guilty, and afraid. Having said that, allow me (RJ) to speak to you as the Eastern Sierra family, and try to put this into perspective. After all, if this happened here, we would be forced to relate as one big family in order to survive.