A summary of the Trail Ambassador’s 2024 season: Intro by Stewardship Director, Lindsay Butcher I am both sad, and slightly happy, to announce the finale of the 2024 TA season. The crew worked HARD this year, but hopefully they had some time to enjoy themselves in the backcountry. We had Nature Yoga, Snake Walks, Art Walks, Edible Plant Walks, Volunteer Events, Cleanups, Camping, lots of Hiking, Campsite Monitoring, and everything in between. This season was challenging: funding was scarce, projects were logistically difficult, injuries were sustained, cars decided to break down… but it was made all the more rewarding for…
Volunteer Work Week
We have a special request for our Friends: We need YOUR help to restore the Rock Creek boardwalk! We are restoring a section of boardwalk on the Upper Rock Creek Trail in the Inyo National Forest and we need to raise $15,000 to tackle the remaining sections of the Upper Rock Creek Trail that were damaged and left in a dangerous condition by runoff in recent years. In August 2024, Friends of the Inyo finished a new section of boardwalk on the Upper Rock Creek Lake trail. It took 13 people ALL day on August 10th to dismantle the old…
A summary of the Trail Ambassador’s season thus far (time is flying!): Intro by Stewardship Director, Lindsay Butcher I said it before, and I’ll say it again: This season has zipped past, blink and you’ll miss it! The TAs are still out on trails clearing downed trees, collecting water quality data, educating visitors on LNT, picking up after folks who leave trash behind 🙁 and leading the last of thier interpretive hikes in September. Most of our Volunteer events have already happened: so far we’ve- installed a new section of the Rock Creek Boardwalk, deconstruted obsolete grazing fencing in the…
A summary of the Trail Ambassador season thus far: Intro by Stewardship Director, Lindsay Butcher How are we already almost to August?! This season has whipped past, blink and you’ll miss it. The TAs have been out on trails since mid June getting the good work done and we have a stellar crew this year spanning from Lone Pine to Bridgeport. They have already hosted a handfull of volunteer events but if you want to get out and get your hands dirty alongside our TAs we have ample volunteer events coming down the pike: Golden Trout Backcountry Work Week, Rock…
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…
Read some exciting progress notes from our Trail Ambassadors, with an introduction and post-note from Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud. “We’re thick into the Dog Days of summer, hitting the midway point of our season, and the Trail Ambassadors (TAs) just keep on rolling! Alongside our Forest Service partners, our TAs have been up to some amazing work. But don’t take my word for it: Let’s hear it from the TAs themselves! Here are some highlights from their last month of work in north-to-south order depending on the Ranger District to which each of them is assigned.” From Bradley Olson, TA…
Friends of the Inyo’s Summer Stewardship Program is Off to a “HOT” Start! By Alex Ertaud, Stewardship Director (Middle-Right in photo) As the days grow longer and the last remaining bits of snow melt away, it can only mean one thing: Friends of the Inyo’s Summer Stewardship Season is upon us! Our Stewardship Team spent the month of May getting ready for the exciting summer season we have ahead of us. We’re thrilled to announce that we are able to staff each Ranger District of the National Forests of the Eastern Sierra with a dedicated Trail Ambassador (TA) this year….
By Lindsay Butcher, Lead Trail Ambassador Flowing southeast from White Mountain Peak, Cottonwood Creek is fed by numerous springs that pop up all the way into the Great Basin Desert. In 2009, as part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act signed by President Barack Obama, Cottonwood Creek was designated as a protected Wild and Scenic River (WSR). Today, the creek’s comprehensive management plan is still under development; however, its WSR designation meant no more cattle grazing in the area. From August 6 through 9, Friends of the Inyo set out with a hard-working group of volunteers and Inyo National Forest…
As the calendar page flips to July, we’ve completed our first official month of Trail Ambassador work in the Inyo & Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests! Our Trail Ambassadors (TAs) hit the ground running this year and have been out and about working hard. Here are just a few highlights of what they’ve been up to: Lily Emerson, our TA partnering with the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, took two volunteers out to Eagle Creek in the Hoover Wilderness to monitor for invasive weeds in the area. Over their three-day/two-night trip, they found no weeds above 8,300 feet in…