Friends of the Inyo - Eastern Sierra | Care for Inyo & Mono Counties

POLICY Engagement Letters

Federal land management agencies work to implement projects on lands they manage on an ongoing basis. It is important that the public take a close look at such projects and make sure they undergo proper environmental review, adverse impacts to natural resources are considered, and when appropriate, projects are redesigned and/or mitigation measures are implemented.

Land management agencies often seek to do the right things but need the public’s help to guide them. Without public engagement and comments to the agencies, public lands can succumb to unsustainable recreational use, industrial development, and misguided management. It is our responsibility to make sure our shared public lands are protected for generations to come.

We track public lands projects, known as Proposed Actions, across public lands in Inyo and Mono Counties. This includes both small actions as well as landscape level decisions. Our policy team tracks notices from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and county governments.

You can view our engagement letters and applicable project files from the past by clicking on the links below.

Updates

25 March

14:34

Groundwater Pumping at Owens Lake by LADWP Comments

LADWP is attempting to increase its extraction of water supplies from the Owens Valley by developing a program of consumptive groundwater use from the Owens Lakebed. We are not in agreement that groundwater pumping from beneath Owens Lake can be done in an environmentally sustainable manner, even for a limited period of time. LADWP has improperly piecemealed review of the incremental steps it is taking to achieve increased water withdrawals from the Owens Valley. It has done so without adequate disclosure or analysis of the cumulative and adverse impacts, both past and future, of LADWP’s extractions, the interactive role of…

By Michael Cleaver in Conglomerate MesaLegislative Engagement

31 December

13:18

Action Alert: Whitebark Pine listing under Endangered Species Act

Action Alert: Whitebark Pine listing under Endangered Species Act Submit your comments to encourage USFWS to list the whitebark pine and include the proposed critical habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is considering listing the whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and has opened a 60-day public comment period which closes on February 1, 2021. The whitebark pine is an iconic conifer species of the Eastern Sierra occurring at high-elevation sites, generally between 9,000 and 12,100 feet. It is a special status species for the Inyo National Forest and there…

By Jora Fogg in Action AlertsLegislative EngagementPolicy

17 September

13:16

Stop Rodenticide poisoning in California – Call for Letters

Protect Wildlife and Stop the Use of Harmful Rodenticides Friends of the Inyo joined with many other environmental groups in sending letters encouraging Governor Newsom (CA) to protect mountain lions, raptors, and other animals from being poisoned. 2014 California banned the sale of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides to consumers. Poisoning of mountain lions, raptors, and other apex predators continues as documented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. AB 1788 was introduced by California State Assembly member Richard Bloom to place a moratorium on the use of these poisons by licensed applicators until review is completed by state agencies. The…

By Michael Cleaver in Action AlertsLegislative EngagementPolicy

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Conglomerate Mesa

Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan

Public Land Projects

Bureau of Land Management

Alabama Hills

National Monuments

West Mojave Route Network Project

Devils Postpile National Monument

Death Valley National Park

United States Forest Service

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Inyo National Forest

Forest Planning

Mono County

Haiwee Geothermal

Eastern Sierra Water

Panamint Valley

California Wildlife

Tribal Sovereignty

Groundwater Pumping at Owens Lake by LADWP Comments

Action Alert: Whitebark Pine listing under Endangered Species Act

Stop Rodenticide poisoning in California – Call for Letters