2025 – A Year in Review

January

The return of gasoline pumps and the filling of the gasoline tanks at Downieville Motors was long-awaited good news at the very beginning of 2025. Unfortunately, the need to remove contaminated soil from the site delayed actual pumping of gasoline for six months. Thus, the ten-year absence of gasoline service in Downieville didn’t end until June.

On January 6th, Jason LaChance was sworn in as a Judge for the Sierra County Superior Court and, for the first time in nearly two years, Sierra County’s two-bench court was full.

After a mountain lion killed a pet dog in the yard outside a residence in Downieville, a neighbor shot and killed the critter. The next day, Jim Kincaid, from the Wildlife Services branch of the US Department of Agriculture, dispatched dogs into the woods in an attempt to locate the dead cat’s mother and sibling. However, the dogs were not able to find any lions.

The US Forest Service held meetings in North San Juan and Camptonville to gather public input on the agency’s plans for implementing the North Yuba Landscape Resilience Project.

Obituaries were published in this paper for Leonard Berardi (a native of San Francisco who moved to Goodyears Bar in 1977 before opening a used and rare book store in Nevada City) and for Thomas “Bud” DeGrio (arrived in Alleghany when he was three years old and spent over 50 years participating in mining and heavy civil projects around the world).

February

After the abnormally dry winter gave way to heavy rains (over six inches falling between January 31st and February 2nd), on the 3rd day of the month, the Downieville Public Utility District issued a boil-water notice due to turbidity (excessive sediments containing contamination) in the water supply.

The Plumas National Forest began burning debris piles located on 422 acres within Plumas County, and the Tahoe National Forest ignited piles on 45 acres east of Camptonville.

In the wake of having implanted eggs in the North Yuba River’s gravel near Downieville in October of 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the capture of juvenile Chinook salmon at the rotary screw trap they had installed near the Rocky Rest Campground, ten miles west of Downieville.

Obituaries for Paul Bianco (a native of San Francisco who was an adventurer, storyteller, and self-proclaimed know-it-all who rode a horse into Plumas County and remained there for until shortly before his death), William Diltz (life-long resident of Sierra Valley and highly skilled timber faller), Louis Elder (a proud Clamper and miner in Sierra County), Daniel Nelson (logging truck driver, miner at the Empire Mine, Caltrans employee for 30 years, and owner of the Coyoteville Cafe and Cabins), and Ronald Morgan (a graduate of Quincy High in 1968 who returned to Plumas County, after a 24-year career in the US Air Force, to become a meter reader for PG&E) were published here.

March

Unlike many of the Great Yuba Pass Chili-Cookoffs held on the first Saturday of March over the past thirty years, the weather was beautiful - no wind or snow - when the Boobs, Booze, and Birrias chili served up by Jenny Varn, Laura Marshall, Heather Foster, and Judi Behlke took home the first-place trophy.

There wasn’t enough room in the Sierra County Supervisor Chambers when the Board held a Public Hearing about a CalTrans proposal to raise speed limits in Sierra City, Sierraville, and Loyalton.

After several cancellations due to insufficient snow, the World Championship Longboard Race Revival Series held its third and final scheduled day of racing.

Nevada City acquired the Miners Foundry, a California Historical Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, to preserve the building and to continue its current role as a cultural center.

An obituary appeared here for Rich Nourse, a resident of Sierra City who served the town’s Volunteer Fire Department over a period of 50 years.

April

“Hands Off!” protests opposing the anti-immigrant actions of the Trump administration were held in Downieville, Quincy, Grass Valley, and Auburn on April 5th.

The Board of Supervisors for both Plumas and Sierra counties declared a Local State of Emergency and requested assistance from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after losses of livestock near occupied homes were confirmed in each county.

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship announced the completion of the Acorn Grotto trail, a 3.6-mile segment of the Indian Falls Ridge route on Mt. Hough in Plumas County.

In an initial move towards state receivership, the Plumas Unified School District, facing an $8 million budget deficit, requested an emergency apportionment of up to $20 million from the State of California.

On April 26th, almost 300 runners participated in the Tahoe (National Forest) Hotshot Half Marathon. Won by Jesse Folsom with a time of 1:33:30, the event raised nearly $15,000 for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, an organization aiding the families of firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty.

May

Obituaries for Bruce Coons (a long-time pillar of the Alleghany community) and Dick Siebrecht (a Sierra City historian, field engineer for the Tahoe National Forest, whose DNA was made of Primrose Mine dust) were published in The Mountain Messenger.

After 24 of the 25 tenured teachers in the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District (SPJUSD) signed a vote of no confidence against Kelly Champion, chair of the SPJUSD Board of Education (BOE), the BOE completely ignored the educators.

The Gold Lake Highway reopened in the second week of May, and roads to Lakes Basin campgrounds were cleared before the end of the month.

The Nevada Irrigation District closed the boat launches at Jackson Meadows and Bowman Lake motorized boats for the remainder of 2025 to prevent the spread of the Golden Mussel, an invasive species found in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in October 2024.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the release of an online tool allowing the public to monitor the location and movements of gray wolves in the state. Notably, at the time it became operational, the system failed to track any of the wolves thought to be present in Lassen, Plumas, and Sierra counties.

After the Truckee Wolverines won the Nevada 3-A high school championship on May 17th, the Loyalton Grizzlies baseball team beat the Hayfork Timberjacks by a score of 10-3 on May 24th to win the Evergreen League championship.

June

A final farewell for Paul Bianca, the long-time owner of Graeagle Stables, was held on June 4th at the White Sulphur Springs Ranch, the spot where Bianca first made his mark on Plumas County.

On June 7th, Downieville High School celebrated the graduation of Ariann Jackson and Nicolas Martinelli, the two members of the school’s Class of 2025.

On Friday, June 20th, and Saturday, June 21st, 148 graduates of Downieville High School gathered for an all-class reunion on the 100th anniversary of the school’s first graduating class. The highlight of the celebration was a delicious dinner at the Community Hall.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the formation of a “strike team” aimed at helping ranchers combat predation of their cattle by wolves.

The closure of the Rite Aid pharmacy in Quincy was confirmed by a notice to the Plumas County Board of Supervisors.

July

On the first day of the month, Judge Jason LaChance swore in the following citizens to the 2025-2026 Sierra County Grand Jury: Candy Corcoran, Charisse Erickson-Yeoman, Joshua Geizler, Jennifer Hollis, Patrick Manning, John Mitchell, Laura Lee Sexton, Kortney Stringer, Michael Taylor, Caleb Walker, and Scott Whitner.

During Downieville’s Fourth of July celebrations, the Pike City Fire Department won the Fireman’s Muster. Meanwhile, hundreds of people created “fireless fireworks” by walking over bubble wrap laid down on Main Street, and later, no serious injuries occurred when several contestants fell during the street races.

“Make Good Trouble” protests against the Trump administration were held on July 17th in Downieville, Grass Valley, Quincy, and Chester.

On July 19th, the Tahoe National Forest (TNF), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and the Sierra County Fish and Wildlife Commission sponsored the annual Packer Lake Kids Day. Thus, from 8 AM – 1 PM, youthful participants were loaned fishing poles and provided arts and crafts activities, wildlife education, raffle prizes, and a delightfully sunny day.

The 2nd Annual Lost Sierra Endurance Races, with participants in 25K, 50K, and 100K versions, started and ended in Downieville on July 26th.

Obituaries for Jim Astesana (a graduate of Nevada Union High School and loved hunting, fishing, and camping all over the United States) and Dale Teubert (a native of Wisconsin whose social work and community services made his mark in both Nevada and Sierra counties) ran in this newspaper.

August

On Saturday, August 2nd, the Mandarin Dreamsicle created by Tessa and Rudy Jackson was voted best of show at the annual Ice Cream Social held in Downieville’s North Yuba River Hall.

The Plumas County Board of Supervisors appointed Chad Hermann as the Plumas County Sheriff/Coroner on August 5th, following the retirement of Sheriff/Coroner Todd Jones on July 28th.

Gil Clark, a 78-year-old resident of Goodyears Bar, was officially reported missing and the object of searches by the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada County Search and Rescue, and the California Highway Patrol Air Patrol.

The Downieville Classic races, cross-country from Sierra City to Downieville on August 9th and downhill from Packer Saddle to Downieville on August 10th, were held; other features on Saturday included the ever-popular River Jump and Log-Pull contests, plus a dance party with two hours of high-energy “cosmic rock” provided by Boot Juice.

The CDFW confirmed that the wolf pack in eastern Sierra County had produced at least six wolf pups this year. The agency also estimated that at least 16 other wolf pups are now being raised in California’s Lassen, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties.

A series of wet thunder and lightning storms, arriving from August 23rd - 26th, ignited 23 firestorms in the Plumas National Forest and at least one in the TNF. However, all the fires were small - none larger than two acres - due to both rapid responses from USFS firefighters and the rain coming down during the storms.

An obituary for Dan Farrington (a resident of Downieville who operated the Downieville Grocery from late 2000 until 2011 and created the renowned Downieville Fireless Fireworks) appeared here.

September

A significant thunderstorm hit western Sierra County on September 2nd, leading to a power outage throughout the area and sparking six small fires, which were suppressed quickly with fire retardants dropped from air tankers and USFS hotshots.

On September 6th, the 8th annual Downieville Mountain Brewfest took over Main St. and treated several hundred visitors to samples of craft beers from 16 vendors from northeastern California. Funds raised by the event’s organizer, the Downiville Improvement Group. will be used to help construct a new firehouse for the community.

After heavy rainfall in eastern Sierra County in late August caused debris flow damage to Smithneck Road, the Sierra County Board of Supervisors issued a state of emergency order, the first step in obtaining assistance with repair work from the State of California.

On Saturday, September 20th, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) held the 28th Annual Yuba River Cleanup, during which volunteers removed 8 tons of trash and recyclables from the river and its shores.

An obituary was published here for John Gallagher, an excellent storyteller who moved to Plumas County in 1970 to teach at Feather River College and gained international fame for his leadership inwilderness Search and Rescue.

October

On October 4th, a teenager, celebrating his birthday by fishing near the Rocky Rest campground along the North Fork of the Yuba River, caught a 30-inch King Salmon. As part of an experiment on the viability of reintroducing the species to this river, the fish was planted in the river earlier in the year by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

On October 6th, ballots for a special vote on Proposition 50, an initiative calling for the replacement of congressional districts established by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission after the 2020 census, were mailed to the state’s citizens. On October 7th, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors decided not to act upon a resolution opposing the initiative, and on October 21st, the Sierra County Board of Supervisors failed to pass a motion opposing Proposition 50.

The Plumas National Forest announced the commencement of pile burning operations after recent rains, and the TNF began prescribed burns on 168 acres near Truckee while also lifting restrictions on fires within campfire rings at forest campgrounds and on private properties within the national forest.

Peaceful “No Kings” protests were held on October 18th in Quincy, Grass Valley, and Nevada City.

On October 24th, the CDFW announced the lethal removal of the wolf pack in Sierra Valley, a group responsible for an “unprecedented” number of livestock attacks at ranches in the area. The agency also reported on its plans to continue planting salmon eggs in the North Yuba.

November

While Proposition 50 was approved statewide by a large margin, in northeastern California it was rejected by voters in every county except Nevada County.

The suspension of food stamp deliveries due to the federal government shutdown affected roughly 10 percent of Sierra County’s residents and 9 percent of Plumas County’s residents.

Despite protests by local officials, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) introduced new maps with significantly expanded floodplain areas in eastern Sierra County. As a result, almost all of Loyalton now has a 1 percent chance of flooding each year, a figure sure to increase insurance costs for the area’s residents and businesses.

As part of the TNF’s Sleighville Phase of the North Yuba Forest Resiliency Project, helicopters began transporting logs cut down on steep slopes between Goodyears Bar and Camptonville.

A follow-up search for Gil Clark found clothing, linked by the Sheriff’s Office to the missing man, in the forest near his residence. However, cadaver dogs were not able to locate any additional evidence relating to Clark’s disappearance.

Obituaries for Jack Marshall (a very gregarious personality, US Army veteran, and a man whose career with the USFS spanned many decades - all within the TNF) and Mike Galan (a pillar of the Downieville community during the decades after his retirement) were published here.

December

The Sierra County Board of Supervisors decided against revoking the Special Use Permit issued to the Sixteen to One Mine in 1989, despite the operator’s failure to comply with its terms since its issuance. However, the Board’s permit extension is set to expire no later than July 1, 2026, unless the operator submits the documents required for permit compliance.

The Center for Biological Diversity, located in Washington, D.C., initiated legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s role in the lethal removal of a wolf pack in eastern Sierra County.

After a second public hearing on the matter, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend curbside recycling to East Quincy residences, starting in January 2026.