FOI’s October Column on Page 4 of this week’s issue of El Sol de la Sierra features a discussion on the Seven Principles of “Sin Dejar Huella” (Leave No Trace), between FOI Communications Director Lou Medina and Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud. Happy reading…and if you like what you read, happy sharing!
Louis Medina
Following a trying summer of wildfires, poor air quality and temporary National Forest closure orders in our state, fall feels like an especially welcome respite this year. In the October Issue of our Juniper E-Newsletter, we present a recap of the work Friends of the Inyo’s Trail Ambassadors did toward the end of the summer to protect and care for the public lands of the Eastern Sierra despite various challenges; a foretaste of fun outdoor events we have coming up this month and next; an update on our campaign to Protect Conglomerate Mesa; an invitation to enjoy our linguistic blog posts in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage…
However you choose to spell it, it’s good for you! National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo is celebrating with our community by sharing the meanings of just a few Spanish-language words in the nature and conservation arena that have made their way into English. Today’s word is piñón, which, in its Anglicized form is spelled “pinyon.” In Spanish, piñón can mean any of various small pines with edible seeds found in western North America, as well as the edible seed of such a pine, according to Merriam-Webster. We all know…
National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo is celebrating with our community by sharing the meanings of just a few Spanish-language words in the nature and conservation arena that have made their way into English. Today’s word is mesa, which in English means an isolated relatively flat-topped natural elevation usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau, according to Merriam-Webster Online. It is a geological term that comes from the Spanish word for table. An English word sometimes also used for mesa is tableland. An example of a…
A Nahuatl Word Hispanicized National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo would like to celebrate with our community by sharing the meanings of just a few Spanish-language words that have made their way into English. Today’s word is coyote. This word comes from the Nahuatl, which belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family of languages. Nahuatl is believed to have developed in Central Mexico and spread northward to the Southwestern United States, and Southward to Central America. “Coyotl” is what the Nahua people called this animal, which is considered a “trickster” by various…
National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo would like to celebrate with our community by sharing the original meanings of just a few nature or conservation terms that have made their way from Spanish into English. Caldera is the Spanish word for cauldron or boiler. It has been adopted into English as a geological term that, according to the National Geographic Online Resource Library (nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia), means a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses. The main difference between a caldera and a crater is twofold: Craters are formed by…
In this issue, read about the history of the L.A./Eastern Sierra Water Wars, and how the Keep Long Valley Green Coalition is working to achieve equitable water sharing in the Eastern Sierra, in a column submitted by Friends of the Inyo Executive Director Wendy Schneider, and originally published earlier this month in the Walking Water (walking-water.org) e-newsletter and blog.
Inland or not, a “playa” needs two things: water and sand. National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo would like to celebrate with our community by sharing the meanings of just a few Spanish-language words that have made their way into English. Playa is one such word. In Spanish, it usually means beach. But according to the Royal Spanish Academy’s website, rae.es, in some South American countries, playa can also mean a flat, wide and clear space intended for specific uses in towns and large-area industries: e.g., playa de estacionamiento means…
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 through October 15. Friends of the Inyo would like to celebrate with our community by sharing the meanings of just a few Spanish-language words that have made their way into English. We begin with a word that defines the place we call home: Sierra. In Spanish it means both “saw” and “mountain range,” most likely because the peaks of a mountain range resemble the teeth on a saw blade. It is easy to see the relation between sierra and the English word serrated, which means notched or…
The USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region will end the regional closure order affecting National Forests in California at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 15, two days prior to the original end date of Sept. 17. However, forest-wide closures will remain in place and be extended until midnight on September 22nd on the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland National Forests in Southern California due to local weather and fire factors, as well as a temporary strain on firefighting resources supporting large fires in other areas of the state.