We are sad to report that pioneering Yosemite scientist Jan van Wagtendonk died on July 15. Jan was a Yosemite and National Park Service legend: an accomplished scientist, a preeminent fire ecologist, a wilderness advocate, and a beloved colleague. He was an innovative wilderness manager, coming up with the trailhead quota system that we still use today to protect wilderness while ensuring that hikers are free to enjoy that wilderness on their own terms. His impact affects fire policy to this day as one of the authors of the first federal fire policy in 1995. Jan possessed an amazing intellect, deep humility, a sharp wit, and a profound love of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. Jan was a strong advocate for returning fire to the Sierra landscape. His pioneering use of prescribed fire in the early 1970s in and around the Mariposa Grove started us on the path to reestablishing an ecological balance lost in over 100 years of fire suppression. There is poetry, in the words of Jan's son Kent, that in Jan's final days the fruits of those efforts had a direct and dramatic effect in saving the Mariposa Grove from the Washburn fire, which started just outside of the grove. Our heartfelt condolences go to Jan's family and wide circle of friends and colleagues. He was one of a kind, and will be deeply missed. You can learn more about Jan and his accomplishments by clicking the link in our bio.