Friends of Florence Lake,
We are asking all our friends and visitors of Florence Lake for help on an important matter related to the nearby campgrounds of Jackass Meadows. The campsite has been closed now for more than 5 years and is in a state of disrepair. We have written a formal letter(included below) to send to a number of local, state, and federal government agencies. We are asking friends to pick a few of these offices to call, email, or write. We are hoping to flood these agencies with requests to restore and reopen the campsite. The easiest way to help is to simply copy the letter below and paste it in the body of the contact form of each department below. We would greatly appreciate you taking a few minutes to help us out with this request. Thank you.
Dear Sir:
I am writing to bring awareness to a pressing concern regarding the Jackass Meadows Campgrounds and the Florence Lake Day Use Area. Both areas are located within the Sierra National Forest on the Kaiser Pass road off of Highway 168 coming out of Fresno, CA. Both locations can be easily identified on the following map: https://goo.gl/maps/L8cBQxVhjn6TaRsB8
Jackass Meadows has been closed for many years due to trees that pose a fall hazard. The Florence Lake Day Use Area currently has numerous picnic areas that are now completely inaccessible to visitors. Many of these have fallen trees laying across the picnic tables. No maintenance has been done in either area for more than five years. As more time passes, even more work is needed to bring these places back up to a fully operational level.
Both areas serve as major staging points for hikers and their families going into and coming out of the Sierra Nevada. Equally, they serve as places where visitors to Florence Lake can access the many outdoor recreational actives found at the lake. Jackass Meadows is the only campground available to visitors for overnight camping in the Florence Lake region. The campground also provides composting toilets and trash dumpster services.
With the campground closure and no place for overnight camping, visitors to Florence Lake have greatly diminished in recent years. Additionally, many who do visit the lake camp illegally and bring in and leave food, trash, and human waste without taking appropriate measures to bury human waste and pack out all trash. Also, lodging logistics for hikers exiting the Sierra Nevada has become increasing difficult as they have no place to stay overnight while arranging for transportation down into Fresno.
I have queried numerous National Forest and National Park employees who have come through the region as to which party is responsible for the campground and day use area and as to when the work on these facilities will be done. As of yet, no-one is able to give any information in answer to either question. No party is taking responsibility for these grounds and local volunteers do not have permission to come in and do the needed work in restoring these areas. This letter is being sent to local Fresno city and county government, California Governor, California State and US senators and representatives, and federal government agencies including the supervisor of the Sierra National Forest, the Chief of the USDA National Forests, the administrative director of the National Park Services, the head of the department of Agriculture, and the President of the United States.
The issue of these areas may not be something your office is directly responsible for or may be something beyond the scope of the authority of your office. However, it is fully within the scope of our responsibility as humans for the stewardship and preservation of our great national treasure. As such, we do ask that you use the voice of your office to bring greater awareness to the general public and to directly contact the members and parties who can bring resolution to this ongoing issue. This is an appeal for cooperation and action between all parties to allocate the needed monetary, human, and equipment resources needed for the immediate restoration and reopening of the Jackass Meadows Campgrounds and the long overdue maintenance of the Florence Lake Day Use Area.
Thank you,
A concerned citizen
LIST OF OFFICES AND ADDRESSES:
Fresno Mayor:
Jerry Dyer
Phone: 559.621.8000
Email: https://www.fresno.gov/mayor/contact-us/
Physical Address:
2600 Fresno Street
Room 2075
Fresno, CA 93721
Fresno County Board of Supervisors:
Supervisor Brian Pacheco
Phone: (559) 600-1000
Email: District1@fresnocountyca.gov
Physical Address:
2281 Tulare, Room #301
Fresno, CA 93721
Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner:
Melissa Cregan
Phone: 559-600-7510
Email: fresnoag@fresnocountyca.gov
Mailing address:
1730 S. Maple Ave., Fresno CA 93702
State Senator over Fresno County:
Andreas Borgeas
Email: https://borgeas.cssrc.us/e-mail-senator
District Office Address:
567 W. Shaw Avenue
Suite A-3
Fresno, CA 93704
Phone: (559) 243-8580
Capitol Office Address:
1021 O Street
Room 7240
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4008
Sierra National Forest Supervisor:
Dean Gould
Email:https://www.fs.usda.gov/contactus/sierra/about-forest/contactus
Phone:(559) 297-0706
Physical Address:
Sierra National Forest Headquarters
1600 Tollhouse Road
Clovis, CA 3611
Chief of the USDA Forest Service:
Randy Moore
Email: https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/contact-us
California Governor:
Governor Gavin Newsom
Email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Physical Address:
1021 O Street
Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
California US Senators:
Dianne Feinstein
Email: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Physical Address:
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Alex Padilla
Email: https://www.padilla.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/
Phone:(202) 224-3553
Physical Address:
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
California US Representative over Western Fresno County:
Jim Costa
Email: https://costa.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
For Contact Form Use Zip Code: 93721-3620
Phone: 559-495-1620
Physical Address:
855 M Street
Suite 940
Fresno, CA 93721
California State Assemblyman over Fresno County:
Jim Patterson
Email: https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.php?district=AD23
For Contact Form Use City: Fresno and Zip Code: 93721-3620
District Office Phone: 559-446-2029District Office Physical Address:
6245 N. Fresno Street
Suite #106
Fresno, CA 93710
Capitol Office Phone: (916) 319-2023
Capitol Office Physical Address:
1021 O Street
Suite 4310
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0023
US Secretary of Agriculture (USDA):
US Secretary of Agriculture (USDA):
Email: askusda@usda.gov
Phone: (833) ONE-USDA
Physical Address:
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
President of the United States:
President Joe Biden
Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Phone: 1-202-456-1111
Physical Address:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
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