Volunteer Events
Friends of the Inyo believes we should all do our part to give back to the land as much as we get out of it. We aim to foster an ethic of public lands stewardship through our volunteer events. Working with partners and land management agencies, we engage the public throughout the year. Most opportunities for volunteering occur in the spring through the fall in and around the Owens Valley and in the high Sierra.
Friends of the Inyo leads a variety of volunteer opportunities from short events to multi-day wilderness stewardship.
- Wilderness Weeks (Multi-Day Volunteering Opportunities). Every year, Friends of the Inyo partners with our U.S. National Forest partners to take volunteers into the backcountry wilderness to maintain trails, restore campsites, dismantle and clear out obsolete cattle fencing, and more. Wilderness projects take place in scenic, remote locations throughout the high country. In past years we’ve traveled to Fourth Recess Lake, Humphreys Basin, Shadow Creek, and Cottonwood Creek.
- Clean Up Events (Half-Day Volunteering Opportunities). Annual clean up events include June Lake trails day, Adopt-a-Crag events in climbing areas, and National Public lands day projects.
- Direct Service Projects. (Half-Day Volunteering Opportunities.) Various direct service projects help the community give back while supporting our policy campaigns for permanent protection. Examples include helping with standardized wilderness assessment surveys or repairing fencing to protect Cottonwood Creek and the Bodie Hills.
Find volunteer opportunities when they are available by visiting our events calendar. There you will find the particulars about each volunteering opportunity, where to meet, what to bring, etc., and will be able to fill out a sign-up form for whatever volunteer event calls out to you.
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Updates
Join Friends of the Inyo and the Sierra National Forest for a spectacular five day trip to Shadow Lake out of Agnew Meadows. August 9-13 RSVP deadline: Friday July 28 We’ll be doing fire ring rehab, brushing and minor trail maintenance. Projects can be adapted to physical limitations of volunteers. Volunteers are responsible for their own backpacking equipment and food (if this is a problem, please contact Julia) Volunteers must be confident in their ability to hike and work at elevation for 5 days. Pack stock are available to bring in tools and food. Bear cans required — FOI will…
For the second year in a row we worked for most of a week in Saline Valley with a group from Washington State University, out of Pullman, Washington. After an impressive two day “commute” from Washington to Bishop eight WSU-ers and three FOIers drove in the south way since the north entrance is closed by snow. FOI has now helped support four trips to Saline so we know that any trip to the valley is a fairly big undertaking. It’s remote, the roads are rough and it has a distinctly backcountry feel. It’s not quite as big a deal when…