Supervisors address a number of issues at last January meet
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors, which held its last meeting for the month of January, last week received a presentation that included 18 mules and a bear.
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Members of the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 “Pack Stock Center of Excellence” gave a report to the board of supervisors on their recent participation in the 2024 Tournament of Roses Parade to commemorate Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday.
Representing the team before the board were Mt. Whitney District Ranger Taro Pusina, stock coordinators Michael Morse and Lee Roeser, and Detail Fire Management Officer Levi Ray.
Primarily based on the Inyo National Forest, the Center prepared, organized, and presented the entry which featured a tribute to Smokey, wildland firefighters, and the pack mules that support firefighters.
The months-long effort included the design and construction of a float and formulation of an Incident Command Team for the delegation of tasks across multiple national forests, culminating in 18 mules, 10 stock handlers, 16 firefighters, and Smokey himself representing the U.S. Forest Service as they traveled down the distinguished, 5.5-mile route on Jan. 1, 2024.
When not in the international spotlight, the
Pack Stock Center for Excellence provides wildland fire support, training for stock use and primitive tools/techniques (Roeser said the Center trains approximately 350 individuals a year from across the nation), resource project support, project oversight, technical expertise and consulting, development of safety protocols and Job Hazard Analyses, community outreach and education, and law enforcement support.
Supervisor Jen Roeser (a volunteer on the project who helped drive the pack train) had the honor of introducing the group at the board’s meeting last week.
“Nearly a billion people watch the Rose Parade on TV – it’s the nation’s New Year’s Day celebration – and I think it’s pretty neat that the Rose Parade Tournament of Roses Committee as well as the Forest Service based in Washington, D.C. recognized that the traditional skills of packing mules for
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