| | Dear Friend, February is a busy month, offering opportunities for romance, patriotism, shopping and sports through Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day and the Super Bowl. And all month long you can celebrate the contributions of African Americans to our nation's history by participating in Black History Month activities. It's busy here at Friends of the Inyo, too, and in this issue of The Juniper E-Newsletter you can: - RSVP for our upcoming Women of Winter FUNdraiser on Zoom this Friday, Feb. 11, and learn about pioneering women skiers in the Sierra Backcountry, while helping FOI raise funds to support our work;
- Register for Friends of the Inyo's Owens Lake Bird Festival, scheduled for April 23 in Lone Pine, LIVE for the first time since 2019;
- Apply to work with our Stewardship Program as a Summer Trail Ambassador;
- Consider ways to support Friends of the Inyo without spending any extra cash;
- and more!
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| Happy reading—and if you like what you read, happy sharing! Sincerely, Louis (Lou) Medina
Communications and Philanthropy Director
Louis@friendsoftheinyo.org |
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| |  | Join Board Member Sydney Quinn (in photo), Executive Director Wendy Schneider, and others, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. this Friday, February 11, for an engaging and historically enlightening Virtual FUNdraising Event on Zoom to benefit Friends of the Inyo. Sydney will take us through vintage black-and-white and color photos of backcountry mavens who skiied in woolen knickers, used the same equipment for touring and downhill skiing, and sometimes even skiied for 36 hours straight without shelter or food--hearty women who persevered for the love of the sport and the local backcountry. Join us. Get inspired. And learn how your giving can help Friends of the Inyo continue to protect and care for the public lands of the Eastern Sierra so that today's girls can become the next generation of "Women of Winter." Suggested donation to attend is $25+, but if that represents a hardship, you can donate a lesser amount or even attend for free. |
| | |  | Join us for Friends of the Inyo's Owens Lake Bird Festival! Back by popular demand following a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Friends of the Inyo’s Owens Lake Bird Festival returns as a one-day live event April 23, in a scaled-down way to: - Ensure attendees’ safety, while we
- Showcase the birds of Owens Lake and its surroundings, and
- Raise awareness about the work of Friends of the Inyo, especially in Southern Inyo County.
Tickets for the Owens Lake Bird Festival always sell fast, and we have had a number of inquiries from our members and supporters already, so don't delay in signing up if you are planning to attend. |
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| | As we reported in the last issue of The Juniper, In mid-December, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) released the Draft Pathways to 30×30 Report, a commitment to protect 30% of our state’s lands and coastal waters by 2030 to counter catastrophic biodiversity loss and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Friends of the Inyo’s goals align with those in the report, and we are actively working to achieve those goals (respecting tribal sovereignty, interconnecting people with natural areas, protecting biodiversity and ecosystems, etc.) in our campaigns for Conglomerate Mesa and the Bodie Hills. REMINDER: The extended comment period for the public to review the draft plan and provide feedback is coming to a close very soon, on Tuesday, February 15. Please, therefore, be sure to visit californianature.ca.gov to review the Draft Pathways to 30x30 Report and provide your comments online, via e-mail, voice mail, or traditional mail by the deadline. Thank you! |
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| | In partnership with, and thanks to the generous support of Winter Wildlands Alliance, FOI is doing another season of Winter Recreation User Data surveys this year. We have been in Rock Creek Canyon (weekends) and at Obsidian Dome (two weekdays per week) since early January, taking snow depth, tallying user numbers and type (walking, skiing, snowmobiling, etc.) and acting as an informational resource for users, and our work will continue through March 31. New this year: A way for everyone who wants to help us gather data on how people are recreating anywhere in the Inyo National Forest thanks to a new downloadable app. This data will help our Policy Team as they get ready to begin working on Over Snow Vehicle (OSV) planning on the Inyo National Forest later this year. Want to learn more? Read all about it on our blog by clicking here. You can also write to Alex@friendsoftheinyo.org. |
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| | Bodie Hills Protection The Bodie Hills are one of the last unprotected landscapes in the Eastern Sierra. Yet numerous private inholdings, totaling 19,511 acres (about 11% of the California portion of the Bodies), have been a major obstacle in achieving permanent protection. As part of our effort to forward the Bodie Hills’ permanent protection, Friends of the Inyo and other local conservation organizations partnered with The Wilderness Land Trust to support its acquisition of 880 acres of private land bordering the 13,053-acre Mount Biedeman Wilderness Study Area for future transfer to the Bureau of Land Management, and will advocate for the inclusion of these lands into the Wilderness Study Area. The areas in and adjacent to the property are the traditional homelands of the Nuumu/Northern Paiute people, with extensive stands of mature Pinyon Pines, many with a proliferation of pine nut cones. The property is in a natural condition and is absent of infrastructure or human development, hosting outstanding vistas and opportunities for primitive recreation and solitude. |
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| Several rock outcroppings of Eureka Valley Tuff are found in multiple locations throughout the property. Most of the higher elevations consist of sedimentary rocks and debris flow from Mount Biedeman. These rocks provide exciting opportunities for recreation and access to fantastic views of Mono Lake to the south and the Sierra Nevada to the west. While grazing has been a traditional use on most Bodie Hills lands, these parcels have not been actively grazed, allowing for growth of forage including native perennial grasses important for mule deer, pronghorn and small mammals. Read the Wilderness Land Trust’s press release here. |
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| |  | | | | | Become a Friends of the Inyo Trail Ambassador this Summer! Friends of the Inyo’s Trail Ambassadors (TAs) support the Inyo, Sierra, & Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests and other partners by providing positive public service, outreach, interpretation, and trail maintenance on popular hiking trails. We are looking for applicants residing or willing to reside in Inyo or Mono Counties. Bilingual or multilingual communication skills are a plus. Questions? Please write to Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud at alex@friendsoftheinyo.org. The deadline to apply is March 4. |
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| | Don't forget to read our monthly column, Amigos de Nuestras Tierras (Friends of Our Lands) featured on the front page of the current (Feb. 3 - 9) issue of Mono and Inyo Counties' sole Spanish-language weekly, El Sol de la Sierra. This month's column is about the nexus between Hispanic communities affected by climate change and the journalists who cover their stories, and is based on our attendance at a Jan. 27 training in Spanish hosted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) titled “Journalism in Times of Climate Change and Emerging Stories in 2022.” Just for having attended, anyone who was not already an NAHJ member (including FOI) received a complimentary one-year membership. This will be great for networking with Hispanic journalists at the state, national, and even international levels to call attention to FOI’s work and climate change issues in the Eastern Sierra. Read the entire article in Spanish below or click on it to download a pdf copy of the entire issue of El Sol de la Sierra; you can also pick up a printed copy of the paper, as it is distributed FREE on racks in businesses throughout Mono and Inyo Counties. Share it with your Spanish-speaking friends! Gracias! |
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| |  | Want to support Friends of the Inyo? Consider making a donation online today! Thank you for your generous support. |
| | |  | The Donate menu on our website has a number of creative ways to give to Friends of the Inyo, including some that don't require an extra output of cash on your part: - Amazon Smile: You shop. Amazon gives. Purchases made through our link trigger the AmazonSmile Foundation to donate a portion of your purchase price (with no extra cost to you) to Friends of the Inyo. Shopping never felt so rewarding!
- Vehicle Donation: Turn a car, motorcycle, RV or boat you no longer need into cash to support Friends of the Inyo. Thanks to our partnership with CARS (Charitable Adult Ride Services), all you have to do is fill out an online form or call CARS' toll-free telephone number and your vehicle will be picked up free of charge within 24 to 72 hours. A receipt will be provided to you for tax purposes. And CARS and FOI will work together to turn your vehicle into cash to support our work to protect and care for the public lands of the Eastern Sierra. Simply visit friendsoftheinyo.org/vehicle to get started. Beep-beep!
- Legacy Giving: Leave a portion of your estate to Friends of the Inyo and create a legacy of conservation in the Eastern Sierra. You can do this anonymously or in your and your family's name, or in memory of someone you love. A legacy gift can be made in the form of real estate or cash assets (like a portion of a 401k or IRA account). It is easier than you think to set up a legacy gift today, and it costs you nothing during your lifetime. It preserves your savings and cash flow, can be changed or revoked at a future time and, most importantly, allows you to be more generous than you ever thought possible. Visit our Legacy Giving Program's Frequently Asked Questions Page to get started.
Thank you! |
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| Friends of the Inyo appreciates the following organizations and local businesses for their generous sponsorship of our programs: |
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| | | Inyo Mono Alpine County
Cattlemen’s Association |
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| | Remember to update the address to our new location: Friends of the Inyo
621 W. Line St., Suite 201
Bishop, CA 93514 FriendsoftheInyo.org |
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