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…
White Mountains
Premium Energy Holdings, LLC (PE) is proposing two massive pumped storage projects in the Eastern Sierra that could impact local communities, recreational uses, and habitats in Inyo and Mono County. Pumped storage involves pumping water up-slope during times of low energy demand/high energy production and then releasing it (in pipes or tunnels) downhill to power turbines and generate electricity when additional energy is required. On May 24, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that regulates hydropower projects including pumped storage, rejected the company’s application that proposed multiple “closed-loop” reservoir/pum systems within Wheeler Ridge’s John Muir Wilderness. This proposal would…
The Laurel Lakes road still has one section of the road deeply covered in snow. This section is less than a mile from Laurel Lake, and is impassable for most vehicles. This route is only recommended for experienced four-wheel drivers only. Friends of the Inyo, with volunteers from Mammoth Mountain Ski Team, cleared and performed general maintenance on the trail from Twin Lakes Campground to Bottomless Pit. The McGee Pass trail south of Mammoth Lakes is in full bloom, and the trail is free of snow. A few of the bridges crossing over McGee Creek are in disrepair, so…
There are lots of issues on BLM land currently underway in the Eastern Sierra. The BLM lands are sometimes put in the shadow of the vast expanses of US Forest Service and National Park lands like Death Valley, the John Muir Wilderness, and newly added White Mountains Wilderness, but they should not be overlooked. In the Eastern Sierra, they include the Bodie Hills, Granite Mountain and Owens Peak Wilderness (photo shown) areas, and the Alabama Hills, as well as many more extraordinary places that make up the East Side. Here are just some of the many preservation issues, on lands…
FOI has teamed up with Rustic Pathways this summer for four trips themed around the Mono Basin. High School age kids come from all over the U.S. and get community service hours for stewardship work, and also get to hike and explore. Our day of stewardship with the kids started off pulling white sweet clover, a particularly pernicious invasive plant, at the Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve, a State Park threatened to be closed. We made a solid dent along the David Gaines memorial boardwalk, and more groups will be coming out throughout the summer to knock the population back…
Lee Vining High has adopted some of Bridgeport Academy’s practices since the recent merge last year. One of which is an “interim Period” of about four weeks after the students have completed the majority of their coursework for the year. The students have the opportunity to choose between courses such as: industrial arts, drama, and natural history. Each are a great opportunity for students to experience and try out something they may want to do in their futures; or just have a good time with classmates and learn things that are becoming more and more non-traditional in the classroom these…
This New Year’s Eve, Friends of the Inyo took some time to reflect on the past 12 months’ accomplishments. What they found added up to 2,010 reasons to support the local non-profit conservation organization. Please consider a resolution that’s good for the places you love: joining or volunteering for this local non-profit next year! 722 Members of Friends of the Inyo. The financial support and involvement of our wonderful members make all these impressive statistics possible694 Volunteers on stewardship projects on the Inyo National Forest, generating the equivalent of $110,747 worth of work400 Acres of wetlands and endangered Owens Vally…
Join Friends of the Inyo for weekend hikes into newly designated wilderness areas. Be sure to bring lunch, sunscreen and weather-appropriate clothing for an all-day adventure. Email stacy@friendsoftheinyo.org for more information, or call (760) 873-6500, and check back here for meeting places, maps and hike details. July 4 Yost Creek to Glass Creek MeadowCelebrate the freedom of the wilderness on a strenuous shuttle hike into the Owens Headwaters Wilderness. Leaving from the Fern Lake trailhead in June Lake, we’ll climb to Yost Meadows and then descend cross-country to Glass Creek Meadow, enjoying wildflower displays all the way. Hike leader:Paul McFarland…
More than 400,000 acres of pristine, beautiful Eastern Sierra lands are now protected as wilderness. Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 146, which included the Omnibus Public Lands bill that our local Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act was part of. The bill–the largest conservation effort put before Congress in 25 years–is now on its way to President Obama’s desk. In Mono and Inyo Counties, new wilderness areas range from the Hoover, near Sonora Pass, to the White Mountains and the eastern escarpment of the Sierra. Congratulations to everyone who worked hard, wrote letters and attended…
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