Bodie Hills - No Change in WSA status

The last two months have provided a renewed spotlight on the Bodie Hills. Hundreds of letters were written to the Mono County Board of Supervisors as well as Congressional representatives, and the Board chamber was packed twice over by locally concerned citizens in February and March. The end result is that there is no change in the status of the Bodie WSA, which means there is plenty of time to get out and explore this unique area.

To recap: this past September, Howard “Buck” McKeon introduced a bill proposing the release of the Bodie WSA, seemingly to promote mining interests. Six days later, in a three-hour meeting in the county seat of Bridgeport (packed with local stakeholders and well-represented by Friends of the Inyo), the Mono County Board of Supervisors took no action to support the resolution, and it died at the end of the last Congressional session. The supervisors were upset by the lack of community input in the legislation, and so were conservationists. The supervisors asked for more information from the mining company

This February they got it—sort of. Cougar Gold gave a presentation to the supervisors and hosted an evening town hall meeting in Bridgeport. Mark Wallace, President of Tigris Financial Group (which controls Electrum Ltd, of which Cougar Gold LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary) failed to disclose any findings from Cougar’s exploration efforts, or any specifics regarding future proposals beyond a demand for WSA release. The supervisors again took no action to support WSA release; once again, the board called for stakeholder involvement in this important public land use issue.

Two weeks later, on March 8, Supervisor Hap Hazard presented his attempt at a compromise on the WSA release issue, which would have released part of the Bodie WSA for mining, and designated about 65% of it as wilderness. Once again local stakeholders came out to pack the board room and voice their opinions. The board, with four members present, took no action to support the proposal, and Supervisor Hazard declared that “the issue is dead.”

Thanks to prudent lack of action by the Mono County Supervisors, WSA status has not changed, and there’s still time and opportunity to get involved in efforts to protect this special place. No change in status gives all stakeholders time to plan and discuss. And explore: here are more things that haven’t changed about the Bodie Hills – they’re still a great place to hike, hunt, camp, botanize, and recreate; they are still a great place to experience solitude, discover natural and cultural history. Want to get to know the Bodie Hills a little bit better? Go on and get out there, and look for this summer's events there with leaders from Friends of the Inyo!

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