“The futures of tourism, wildlife and ranching in Mono County are now at the mercy of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power – according to environmental groups – now that a court has upheld the agency’s authority to cut irrigation water.” Click here to read the entire article, which has been distributed to numerous media outlets throughout the Western U.S., thanks to our partnership with Public News Service. We Need Your Support! If you would like to help Friends of the Inyo continue the good fight for water justice in the Eastern Sierra, please read our June…
Policy
The latest issue of Friends of the Inyo’s Jeffrey Pine Journal, now in its twentieth year, features timely conservation-related topics such as fire management, wayward balloon litter in nature, the 30×30 Initiative to conserve 30 percent of our public lands and coastal waters by 2030, and more. Click on the image above or this link to access and download a pdf version. Happy reading! Please remember that you can get a hard copy of the Jeffrey Pine Journal delivered to your home twice a year, in Spring and Fall, as one of the perks of membership with Friends of the…
In a recent conversation with “The Oxygen Starved Podcast” hosts Mono County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stacey Adler and Mono County Free Library Director Christopher Platt, Friends of the Inyo’s Executive Director Wendy Schneider talks about public land stewardship and protection, leadership, family and more. Take a listen. Begin at min. 32 of the podcast. Happy listening…And if you like what you hear, happy sharing!
Please attend the Inyo/LA Standing Committee meeting this Thursday, May 12, at 10 a.m., and provide support for Inyo County’s request that LADWP reduce its water extraction from the Owens Valley. Get more details and access the meeting agenda, link and instructions by reading this blogpost.
By Jora Fogg, FOI Policy Director Last month, in conjunction with Earth Day, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) released their final Pathways to 30×30: Accelerating Conservation of California’s Nature strategy to forward the global effort to conserve 30 percent of lands and coastal waters by 2030 (30×30). The plan focuses on protecting the state’s biodiversity, advancing equitable access to nature and addressing the climate crisis. The Pathways document was crafted by a dedicated team at CNRA through months of public engagement. More than 4,100 Californians engaged with the state to provide input through more than a dozen public meetings,…
Comprehensive River Management Plans for the Owens River Headwaters & Cottonwood Creek are long overdue. We are encouraging our members to submit written comments to the Inyo National Forest on the second round of draft plans and the accompanied Environmental Assessments by the April 14 deadline. Our Action Alert provides talking points and instructions. Thanks for your participation!
Please help gather data regarding issues and successes of winter recreation to assist Inyo National Forest staff with Winter Travel Planning. We need your photos and experiences. Use an exciting app called RIMS (Recreation Impact Monitoring System) to make your voice heard about how you would like to see the forest used in winter!
Please attend one or more of these meetings and share your thoughts with Inyo National Forest staff. It is important to engage early and often on this critical piece of travel management, which will inform, well into the coming decades, how the forest is used in the winter.
With the New Year upon us, and winter raging out here in the Eastern Sierra, we are excited to do another season of Winter Recreation User Data surveys! In partnership with, and thanks to the generous support of Winter Wildlands Alliance, we will be in Rock Creek Canyon (weekends) and at Obsidian Dome (two weekdays per week), taking snow depth, tallying user numbers and type (walking, skiing, snowmobiling, etc…), and acting as an informational resource for users from January 8 to March 31. This data will help our Policy Team as they get ready to begin working on…
By Kathy Bancroft Lone Pine, California, the town where I was born and have lived all my life, sits in the valley by Conglomerate Mesa a mile from Death Valley National Park. I call the place Payahuunadü, meaning “land of flowing water.” The Mesa hosts a vibrant, beautiful and productive ecosystem of rare and unique desert plants, as well as culturally sensitive and archeologically significant artifacts. Returning to the Mesa, I am thrown back to my childhood, gathering pinyon nuts, listening to my relatives share our stories, and performing traditional rituals. Conglomerate Mesa is the traditional homeland of my people,…