A meadow below Deadman’s Peak, just a short distance east of Champman CampgroundBASSETTS — Starting this past September, the Upper North Yuba Forest Resilience Project commenced, and we are delighted to report the results are simply astounding.

Back in 2018, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), a State of California agency created by legislation passed in 2004 with a mandate to aid in the preservation of working landscapes, reducing the risk of wildfires, plus protecting and improving water and air quality, awarded a grant of $500,000 to Sierra County to help fund the thinning 267 acres of conifers lining the Highway 49 “scenic” corridor from just below the headwaters of the North Yuba to roughly a quarter mile east of Bassetts Station.

In addition, the US Forest Service allocated $2.7 million to support the thinning work, and the sale of timber and biomass was slated to complete the funding of the $3.7 million project.

For a variety of reasons, including the intense fire seasons of 2020 ...

Moises Espejo during his paramedic internship in SacramentoDOWNIEVILLE — Over the past several weeks, Downieville Volunteer Fire Department’s part-time paramedic, Moises Espejo, has been getting adjusted to answering calls in the mountains. This past October 19th ushered in not only Espejo’s 26th birthday but also 24/7 round-the-clock paid paramedic coverage, which became a first for these rural parts. The addition of Espejo, covering a 48-hour shift Sunday-Monday, ensures our full-time paramedic, Tegan Harrington, can have a couple of days off to get the well-deserved rest and rejuvenation required to avoid fatigue and burnout.

Espejo was drawn to the field of Emergency Medical Services in his youth, watching paramedics arrive at his childhood home over 50 times to perform actual life-saving measures when his baby sister was sick. Between these visiting first responders in action and his continual viewing of the 70s television show Emergency!, a dream to one day be a paramedic was born...

Tim Alexander, Jason and Jaime LaChance, Corky Henson, Patti Stringer, Suzanne Smith, David Hutchinson, Clancy, Sandy Loving, and Conrad McCauley.DOWNIEVILLE — Once again, the Miss Jody Community Thanksgiving Dinner was successful. The volunteers, families, and friends had camaraderie and fun preparing and serving the very tasty meal.

We appreciate the support from the Downieville Lion’s Club members, Western Sierra Food Bank, Immaculate Conception and Assembly of God Churches, and many Western Sierra County residents.

We especially acknowledge volunteers Steve Folsom, Mindy Strine, Suzanne Smith, Lee Adams, Sandra Loving, Karen Galan, Lexee Knoefler, Kati from Bee Ranch, Steiner Knoefler, David O’Donnell, Clancy, Corky Henson, David Hutchinson, Conrad McCauley, Patti Stringer, Tim Alexander, Jason LaChance and his beautiful family.A thank you card for meal volunteers prepared by Makenna and K.J. LaChance

There were many volunteer cooks, and much was delivered to the Downieville Community...

Nurse Wendy March, played by Tessa Jordan, made uncomfortable by Dr Dogsbreath Devereaux, played by Collin O’Mara-GreenDOWNIEVILLE — Dogsbreath Devereaux, the Dastardly Doctor, or Nurses Foiled Again!, a medical melodrama by Billy St. John, came to the Yuba Theatre in Downieville last weekend. There could be no better venue in which to enjoy community theatre than the Yuba Theatre, with its historic stage, reminiscent of the time and place in which this drama was set. The hilarious melodrama, filled with quirky clinic staff and zany patients, left the audience in stitches as they enthusiastically booed, hissed, laughed, and sighed their way through the show in tune with the sound effects perfectly attuned to enhance the mood of the moment.

Nurse Hilda Hatchet, played by Nathanael Kauenik,
failing to control her jealousyA motley cast of characters, portrayed in true style by our talented local thespians, kept things lively and entertaining as the dastardly plot twisted and turned and bum...

Van Maddox addresses the BoardLOYALTON — All Sierra County department heads are tasked with responsibilities above and beyond what might be expected in a larger, fully-staffed county government. Over time, the responsibilities of our department heads have continued to grow with each new state mandate, to the point where some have begun to feel overwhelmed by the duties they’ve been required to assume. Combined with inflation eating away at income, an increase in compensation seems a natural request.

The question of fair compensation came to a head at the meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday after Auditor, Treasurer, and Tax Collector Van Maddox released a fiery memo. In the memo, Maddox demands that pay increase to $165k and $175k for the department head tiers one and two, or he will resign from all “non-elected functions” not explicitly listed by the state as the duties of an Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector. Maddox currently has a base salary of $155k.

Though th...