Trail Ambassadors
With federal budgets dwindling, our local Inyo and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests have less and less ability to adequately staff our trails. Coupled with the millions of visitors to each forest every year, and our public lands are seeing adverse effects in the form of trail maintenance backlogs, trash strewn about, and habitat degradation.
In the summer of 2017 we launched our current iteration of the Trail Ambassadors to educate trail users on how to best recreate responsibly, provide interpretive talks and hikes, engage the public in volunteer public lands stewardship events, and provide a presence on the ground.
The Trail Ambassadors are making a big impact! Since 2018, the Trail Ambassadors have amassed some staggering stats:
- 12,585 visitor contacts
- 12,532 pounds of trash removed
- 1233 logs removed from trails
- 765 campsites cleaned
- 1125 interpretive program participants
- 3319 miles of trail monitored and maintained
Friends of the Inyo would like to recognize the following organizations for their financial support over the past five years of the Trail Ambassador program:
Thank you!
Support the Trail Ambassadors
Updates
It’s #GivingTuesday! You can help Friends of the Inyo raise up to $91,000 thanks to a $45,500 matching gift from our generous Board of Directors that includes THE FIRST HYBRID VEHICLE IN OUR FLEET! Look at the custom license plate in the photo below and ask yourself, “What will I give “4FOI24” (i.e., to take FOI into 2024)? Then scroll down to give! Your gift will be DOUBLED. Thank you!
A quinceañera, a mild case of COVID, Friends of the Inyo’s partnerships and more! We have lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Read all about it in the combined October/November Issue of The Juniper.
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…
With Labor Day Weekend coming up, we know the end of summer is drawing near. Sigh! But it’s been another exciting season in the world of Friends of the Inyo, as you will be able to tell from these narratives submitted by our hard-working Trail Ambassadors. Please enjoy reading about what they have been up to, share with your friends and networks, and, if you see them out on the trails, please say hello to them and thank them for their work. They will still be working with us and leading hikes till the end of September! Smiles all around….
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…
With our typical season timeline pushed back this year, we are a bit delayed in getting our first month of the Trail Ambassador season in the books. Despite all of the roadblocks (figurative and literal) we’ve hit the ground running! We’ve asked the TAs to give us a quick summary of their first impressions. Here’s what they have to say: Logan: Mt. Whitney RD I have been working with the USFS Mt. Whitney Rangers on local trails such as Mt. Whitney, Kennedy Meadows, Kearsarge Pass, Cottonwood Lakes. Lately there has been a lot of trail reporting. With this year’s heavy snowfall,…