Endangered Species Survey

Ranger Headquarters - Knotty Pine
Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson along with a team of his rangers will be traveling across Big Pine National Forest to perform a survey of the endangered species in the Knotty Pine District. leading the list of animals on Ranger Bill's endangered list are the gray wolf, the wolverine, and the pika. Gray wolves can be found all across the national forest, while wolverines are found mostly in the more mountainous areas in the forest's northern sectors. The Pika is a small (guinea pig size) member of the rabbit family and lives in the upper elevations in rocky areas for shelter.
Ranger Bill is including one family of endangered pine tree in his survey, the bristlecone pine. These trees are not impressive in size or appearance. Most only grow 20 to 30 feet tall. They grow in gnarled tortured shapes and often lose much of their bark. But the bristlecone is one of the oldest forms of plant life on our planet. Some individuals have been found to be well over 4,000 years old! This pine grows in the mountains near the tree line at 10,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level where few other trees can survive. The weather is often cold and windy, and there is little rain along the treeline. The little moisture that falls is usually in the form of snow or sleet and hail that tear off bark and scour the bare wood.

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Fall Trail Riding

News from Ranger Headquarters

With fall officially here in Big Pine national Forest, the trail riding season begins. Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson's rangers will guide trail riding in the national forest three times a day each Saturday and Sunday beginning Saturday, October 1, 2011, to Sunday November 20, 2011. Rangers Gray Wolf and Henry Scott will lead mid-week trips for grade school students on Wednesday afternoons immediately after school throughout October.
Schools and other organizations may contact Knotty Pine ranger headquarters to schedule special trail riding sessions.
Trail sessions will vary in terrain from easy forest and meadow trails to more difficult back country and mountain trail routes. So be sure to contact ranger headquarters for a list of trail rides and routes.

Big Pine Ranger Headquarters News

The 3-S Wildlife Tours
Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson has approved a new program at Big Pine NF thanks to a suggestion by ranger Stumpy Jenkins. Big Pine will now offer guided wildlife tours for physically handicapped and visually impaired visitors.
Ranger Jenkins came up with the idea for these tours while at the office of Dr. Hanson, Knotty Pine's eye doctor. Stumpy was chatting with some of Dr. Hanson's other patients while in the waiting room. Stumpy sees Dr. Hanson regularly after having cataract surgery. Stumpy was talking with another of the doctor's patients Will Thompson describing his work as a ranger at Big Pine National Forest. He mentioned that one of the best parts of his job is watching and listening to the wildlife, especially the many birds in the forest. Will is nearly blind and has never bothered to go bird watching. Other patients in the office also commented that they would enjoy listening to the birds and other animals.
Ranger Stumpy teamed up with fellow ranger Gray Wolf to lead "The 3 S's of the Shady Mountains." Those three S's are the sights, sounds, and smells of the Shadys. The rangers will take visitors to see the colors of the mountains, smell the scents of the flowers and trees, and hear the songs of birds and the calls of the wildlife.
Stumpy and Gray Wolf also lead tours for physically handicapped visitors. Bus tours with nursing aids for those who need help walking are available.

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Blackfoot Mystery Jar

Historians Arrive at Ranger Headquarters
News continues to come from Ranger Headquarters at Big Pine National Forest.
Ranger Gray Wolf tells the GAZETTE that archaeologists and historians from State U arrived this week to inspect the medal, code paper, and leather book found in a jar given to Gray Wolf by Blackfoot Indian Alan Beaver.
The historians immediately identified the medal as an authentic silver Jefferson Peace Medal (See a medal at http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=350). The medals were used throughout the Jefferson administration and given as token of peace and friendship. The medals were often given by explorers working for the US government to Indian chiefs. The code paper appears to be a copy of the code used by Lewis and Clark in their exploration of the Louisiana Territory. They and their Corps of Discovery were searching for a passage up the Missouri River through the Rockies to the west coast from 1804 to 1806. Careful early examination of the leather book leads the archaeologists to believe this to be an authentic journal of Meriwether Lewis written during that trip.
You and The Lewis and Clark Code
Now you can use the same code that Lewis and Clark used to send messages to President Thomas Jefferson. Below are two websites where you can make a copy of the Lewis and Clark Code as well as instructions on how to use the code to write your own secret messages to your friends!
http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/legacy/secretcode.htm
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp296-02.shtml

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Jefferson Box Opened

A locked wooden box discovered by Henry Scott in Ranger Bill Jefferson's attic was identified and opened yesterday. The box appears to be connected to a mystery going on at Ranger Headquarters concerning the origins of Big Pine Forest and Depression era workers called the "3C Boys."
Ranger Bill and Henry took the box to Masters Lock and Key to have its lock opened. Maggie Murphy arrived at the locksmith with a key that unlocked the box. Mrs. Murphy is housekeeper for Ranger Bill's co-worker Stumpy Jenkins. She said that Mr. Jenkins told her of the box with the initials "JJF" on the lid. Maggie said the box must have belonged to her oldest brother John Jeffery Flanigan. Maggie, along with Ranger Bill and Henry, found letters from her family to her brother, a diary, and more.
Maggie told the GAZETTE that her brother worked on a Knotty Pine CCC crew to help his family survive the Depression. John was also called Jack because so many Irish boys were named John then. Maggie was a baby when Jack worked as a 3C Boy. Jack came home to Ohio in the early 1940's with stories of a quaint little town that he helped build called Knotty Pine. The family eventually moved to Knotty Pine. Maggie has lived here ever since.

Knotty Pine Gazette - Mystery at Ranger HQ

Strange Find at Ranger Headquarters
A strange and unusual discovery was made today at Ranger Headquarters at Big Pine National Forest. Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson reports that his ward Henry Scott found some old boxes and a shovel while cleaning out the back room at Ranger Headquarters. Stumpy Jenkins identified the boxes as belonging Big Pine's first chief ranger and dating from the Great Depression. The shovel was next to the boxes and covered with dust. When Henry cleaned up the shovel he found the shovel blade was hand painted with the phrase "Property of the 3C Boys."
Ranger Bill and Stumpy Jenkins looked through contents of the boxes. The rangers found documents and reports concerning the creation of Big Pine and the construction of other major landmarks in and around the national forest. The documents also indicate that Ranger Bill's own home is historically connected to Big Pine. Henry Scott has gone to the Jefferson home to look for anything that may shed further light on this historical mystery.
Ranger Rocky McGuire tells the GAZETTE that President Roosevelt set up public works programs during the Great Depression to put men back to work. The shovel is probably connected to the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, which employed millions of young men from 1933 to 1942 planting trees, creating parks, constructing public buildings, and more. The young men working in the CCC were known as 3C Boys.

Knotty Pine Bank Robbed, Robbers Captured

The gang of bank robbers currently known as the "Tri-county bandits" struck again, this time in Knotty Pine. The Citizen's Bank of Knotty Pine was robbed just before noon by what appeared to be the Tri-county Bandits. Knotty Pine Police along with some forest rangers arrived just minutes after the robbery occurred. No one inside the bank was hurt. What was termed "a substantial amount of cash" was taken from the tellers' desks.

Police found the get-away car used in the robbery just east of the downtown area. No tracks were found for another get-away vehicle. Sheriff Cal called ranger headquarters for help in tracking the bandits. With rangers Stumpy Jenkins and Gray Wolf, the staff's expert trackers gone for ranger conferences. Temporary chief Ralph Dawson was not sure the rangers would be much better tracking than police dogs. Henry Scott along with other Big Pine rangers attempted to locate the robbers trail. Henry Scott, Ranger Bill's ward and ranger-in-training, was trained in tracking by both rangers Jenkins and Gray Wolf. Mr. Scott noticed horse tracks not far from the abandoned car. He surmised that horses were the means of escape in this robbery and followed the tracks to an ranch east of town which was for sale.


Mr. Scott then radioed the sheriff's office and ranger headquarters for back-up. Ranger Dawson and his men were the first to arrive. Ranger Dawson and his men were able to arrive silently by riding in on horseback. The rangers surrounded the ranch house. Using a bullhorn, Ranger Dawson called the men to surrender. The gang was so surprised that they gave up without a struggle. The sheriffs were at the scene moments later and took the gang to county jail.

Henry Scott is being hailed as a master tracker. The mayor says he will present Henry with a key to the city in appreciation for his efforts. Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson is scheduled to arrive back in Knotty Pine shortly from a ranger conference. Ranger Bill said in a cell phone interview with the GAZETTE that he is very proud of Henry, and that Henry has learned well from rangers Jenkins and Gray Wolf, his tracking experts.

Knotty Pine Ranger Headquarters News Note

Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson will be out of town for the next week to ten days. Ranger Bill will be attending an NPS forestry management conference being held in Washington, D.C. during this time. He will be leaving this Friday, Feb. 13, flying out of Central City.
Rangers Stumpy Jenkins and Gray Wolf will also be leaving this weekend to attend another park ranger conference, this time in Missoula, MT. The two rangers will be leading several training sessions on tracking, with an emphasis on tracking missing and/or lost hikers and climbers. Rangers Jenkins and Gray Wolf are considered two of the best trackers in the western region on the Untied States. The pair will be gone for two weeks, also beginning Friday.
In the absence of Chief Ranger Jefferson, as well as senior rangers Jenkins and Gray Wolf, ranger Ralph Dawson, with assistance from Henry Scott, will direct activities in Big Pine National Forest until Ranger Bill returns from Washington.