There’s an assumption that summer is our busy season, but in one week this past November, Friends of the Inyo’s staff illustrated how ambitious and inspiring we are at the following events: Presented about the connection between stewardship and advocacy at Winter Wildlands Alliance’s Grassroots Advocacy Conference in Lake Tahoe. Mobilized our members and the public to provide overwhelming opposition to the proposed gold mine at Conglomerate Mesa at the Inyo County Board of Supervisor’s meeting. Took 91 Mammoth Elementary students out for a Fall Field Day for SnowSchool to learn about watersheds and have fun in the Mammoth Lakes…
Ben Wickham
Partner Profile: David Page of Winter Wildlands Alliance Friends of the Inyo’s Ben Wickham sat down at Mountain Rambler Brewery in Bishop with David Page, Mammoth local and Advocacy Manager for Winter Wildlands Alliance, to talk about SnowSchool, a national education program designed by Winter Wildlands Alliance with 60 sites across the U.S. that educate 30,000 youth each year. For more about SnowSchool, visit SnowSchool’s website. What is SnowSchool? David Page: Snowschool is a program that is developed by Winter Wildlands Alliance and has expanded to about 60 sites, and reaches about 32,000 kids a year. The goal is to…
Conglomerate Mesa is, once again, under attack from mining interests. Conglomerate is the first roadless area in California targeted for development under the Trump administration. We are not being alarmist when we say these exploratory drill sites are only the beginning. The ultimate land management goals of the current administration are explicitly extractive: mine the land until it stops making money, and then abandon it with as little regulation as possible.
Saline Valley Monarch Overwintering Opportunities: As you may know, monarch butterflies have declined by around 80% over the last 20 years. Scientists and citizens alike have been working to gather data that will help us make informed decisions about this species. Monarchs from the eastern U.S. overwinter in central Mexico while western monarchs typically overwinter on the coast of California. However, in some very unique areas in California, Nevada, and Arizona, monarchs are known to overwinter at inland sites. One of these areas is Saline Valley, part of Death Valley National Park. Starting in the 1970’s, a naturalist named Derham…
It’s been a lot of fun for us here in the office at Friends of the Inyo to come in on Monday mornings and see pictures and reports from the field. Looks like our Trail Ambassadors Alex and Astra had a particularly good time this weekend while working hard on the TJ Lake Trail in the Mammoth Lakes Basin:
We went out with the Inyo National Forest and SEMBA (Sierra Eastside Mountain Bike Association) and repaired a section of the Lower Rock Creek Trail that was damaged by flooding this winter. Lower Rock Creek is a classic trail for mountain bike riding. While we had a beautiful day out there, and finished the job, it was really nice to spend a morning with really nice folks stepping up to care for a place they enjoy and love. Best way to make an impact on trails you enjoy? Join us on another trail event soon. Thanks to the Inyo National…
Check out Trail Ambassador Astra’s intellectual exploration of connecting to a place: While leading my third “Wild Harvest” interpretive hike for FOI this summer, one of the participants mused about what’s underfoot. We were three-quarters of a mile up the Parker Bench Trail, pausing in the ecotone between sage steppe and forest riparian corridor. The group had just come to a stand of aspen, and we were discussing the interconnectedness of trees: how a web of fungi in the soil allows trees across species to share nutrients and knowledge amongst themselves for the betterment of the forest writ large. “There’s…
Watching the Trail Ambassadors run the cross cut saw to remove a log from a trail in the Mammoth Lakes Basin put us in an old time kind of mood, so here’s pictures of them working in black and white. Look for the Trail Ambassadors on high country trails this summer, or join them for Trail Work Thursday or an interpretive hike.
For a month now, Friends of the Inyo’s Eastern Sierra Trail Ambassadors have been on the ground, working hard to open up and clear out high country trails after an epic winter. One place they’ve really enjoyed working is Rock Creek and the trails leading out of Little Lakes Valley. On the way up to Ruby Lake, a few Whitebark pine fell across the trail and they spent an afternoon sawing them out. Check out photos below, and look for the Trail Ambassadors out on trails all summer long.