Dear  Friend,

We hope your spring is off to a good start and you have been celebrating Earth Day or, as it seems to us environmentalists, Earth Month! 

Spring is upon us and the land is melting out quickly in the Eastern Sierra: wildflowers will soon abound in the more northern reaches of the region, such as the beloved Bodie Hills. Indeed, the Bodie Hills are a particular widlflower "hot spot," thanks to their dynamic terrain and suite of different soils which allow for a large diversity of plant species (and associated widlife too!) 

Grab a copy of  "Wildflower Hot Spots of the Eastern Sierra" or download it at the link for more information on what makes this area so special for widlflowers. It even includes a plant list for all your spring time flower identification adventures.

Get Out With Us: 

As the snow melts out and our minds turn to happy days on the trail, we unfortunately must also remember exploratory drilling, clear cutting, and habitat degradation on the Nevada side of the Bodie Hills. Mining threats not only continue but are also increasing , with the recent expansion of the Sawtooth Ridge drilling as part of the Polaris Project. 

Interested in helping monitor these drilling sites in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest this spring and summer? Community members will be keeping tabs on activities in the Bodie Hills from a distance; you can join them and us by adding your name and contact information to our mining monitoring volunteer team. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service will host a public workshop to present information and gather feedback on a range of topics regarding the science and management of pinyon and juniper woodlands, May 8-9, 2024 at the Nugget Casino Resort, 1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks, NV, 89431.

This event is part of the efforts to define, inventrory, assess threats to, and develop policies to manage and conserve mature and old-growth forests on federal lands, following Executive Order 14072, Strengthening the Nation's Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, also known as the Mature and Old Growth Order or MOG. 

Initial inventory following the order identified 24 million acres of mature and old-growth pinyon and juniper woodlands on federal lands, making the pinyon-juniper group the most abundant old-growth forest type on U.S. Forest Service and BLM lands.

How to Attend: 

The workshop is two days, with those who wish to attend in person needing to register for both days, May 8th and May 9th, individually. Those who cannot attend in person can register to watch virtually as parts of the workshop will be livestreamed.

How to Comment: 

BLM is accepting public comments about the management and conservation of pinyon and juniper ecosystems through May 20, 2024. 

Comments can be electronically submitted to the project email address, blm_wo_forestry@blm.gov. To submit written comments, please send mail to:

Debra Paul
Bureau of Land Management
Coeur d’Alene District Office
3232 W. Nursery Road
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815

In March, the BLM, which manages the largest single share of greater sage-grouse habitat in the United States – nearly 67 million of 145 million acres total, released its draft Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Management Plan Amendment. 

The plan intends to protect the greater-sage grouse by amending 77 land-use plans across 10 states (not including the Bishop Regional Management Plan, which governs actions in the Bodie Hills BLM lands). The BLM is accepting public comments on the following: 

• The draft plan, due June 13th
• BLM's consideration of potential areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs), which are land designations that can be made in the resource management planning process, due May 14th

Great Old Broads for Wilderness is hosting a FREE webinar and comment-writing workshop about the draft plan on May 2nd at 4:00 PM Mountain Time, 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, open to all who are interested.