Volunteer Events
Friends of the Inyo believes we should all do our part to give back to the land as much as we get out of it. We aim to foster an ethic of public lands stewardship through our volunteer events. Working with partners and land management agencies, we engage the public throughout the year. Most opportunities for volunteering occur in the spring through the fall in and around the Owens Valley and in the high Sierra.
Friends of the Inyo leads a variety of volunteer opportunities from short events to multi-day wilderness stewardship.
- Wilderness Weeks (Multi-Day Volunteering Opportunities). Every year, Friends of the Inyo partners with our U.S. National Forest partners to take volunteers into the backcountry wilderness to maintain trails, restore campsites, dismantle and clear out obsolete cattle fencing, and more. Wilderness projects take place in scenic, remote locations throughout the high country. In past years we’ve traveled to Fourth Recess Lake, Humphreys Basin, Shadow Creek, and Cottonwood Creek.
- Clean Up Events (Half-Day Volunteering Opportunities). Annual clean up events include June Lake trails day, Adopt-a-Crag events in climbing areas, and National Public lands day projects.
- Direct Service Projects. (Half-Day Volunteering Opportunities.) Various direct service projects help the community give back while supporting our policy campaigns for permanent protection. Examples include helping with standardized wilderness assessment surveys or repairing fencing to protect Cottonwood Creek and the Bodie Hills.
Find volunteer opportunities when they are available by visiting our events calendar. There you will find the particulars about each volunteering opportunity, where to meet, what to bring, etc., and will be able to fill out a sign-up form for whatever volunteer event calls out to you.
Thank you!
Support Our
Volunteer Program
Updates
A quinceañera, a mild case of COVID, Friends of the Inyo’s partnerships and more! We have lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Read all about it in the combined October/November Issue of The Juniper.
Wrapping up the 2023 Trail Ambassador Season: Intro by Lindsay Butcher, FOI Stewardship Director Here we are, yet again. Somehow we’ve made it to the end of another trail season, despite this year continuing to pose new and adventurous challenges throughout the passing summer months, which were particularly wet, with trails remaining inaccessible until mid-late July! Once trails were melted out, downed trees rendered them impassible. Mid season monsoons washed roads away. Luckily fires were of little consequence (knock on wood, fingers crossed, hold you breath…. don’t jinx it!) Through it all the Trail Ambassadors persevered. Here’s what the All-Star…
Read some exciting progress notes from our Trail Ambassadors, with an introduction and post-note from Stewardship Director Lindsay Butcher. It is hard to believe, but here we are- already halfway through the Trail Ambassador season! My how time zips by… Despite the multiple false starts of summer and the ongoing damage control from winter, our TAs have been up to some awesome work alongside our Forest Service partners. Here are some highlights from their last month of work. From Logan, TA on the Mt. Whitney Ranger District of the Inyo National Forest: My Favorite day this month- Overnight in the Eastern…