| | | | Taking Flight Soon: Friends of the Inyo's
Owens Lake Bird Festival, April 21 - 23! Pre-Ticket-Sales Advisory! | |  | | | | | Photo by Martin Powell Peak migration season along the Pacific Flyway happens this spring, and with the birds, so comes Friends of the Inyo's Owens Lake Bird Festival 2023, with generous sponsorship support from Metabolic Studio, the County of Inyo, and AltaOne Federal Credit Union. This year, the festival, always in Lone Pine, will be held on Earth Day Weekend, April 21-23. We will feature birding tours on and off the famous Owens Lake, as well as photography, advocacy, botany, mining history, and film history tours. Come celebrate the amazing history and wildlife of Southern Inyo County with Friends of the Inyo! Special Deal for Friends of the Inyo Members: Supporters whose membership status is active (those who have donated $35 or more to Friends of the Inyo within the last year) will have the first opportunity to get tickets and sign up for tours. Stay tuned to your inbox for our exclusive members-only e-mail announcement when ticket sales and sign-ups go live before the end of February. Please e-mail any questions about the Owens Lake Bird Festival to kayla@friendsoftheinyo.org. Want to make sure your membership is current and in good standing? Donate now using the button below. | | | | | | | | Also in this issue of The Juniper, we: - Are writing our own headlines, in the revived Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership Quarterly Newsletter, the Keep Long Valley Green Coalition's Monthly Newsletter, and our contributions to this week's issue of El Sol de la Sierra and The Sierra Reader about our ever popular Snow School for Bishop and Mammoth 5th graders;
- Are highlighted in the headlines, having been featured for our work on dark desert skies in the Golden State Naturalist podcast, and also for our outreach to the Eastern Sierra's Hispanic community in a Conservation Lands Foundation-commissioned report on public lands advocacy against the backdrop of changing demographics in America;
- Let you know of employment opportunities with Friends of the Inyo as a Summer Trail Ambassador;
- Help our partners at the Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center and Maturango Museum publicize culturally important upcoming events that promote cross-cultural understanding; and
- Invite you to engage with us in volunteering, giving, or BOTH by assisting with Snow Surveys and/or helping us grow our membership through our Help Us Grow Our Circle of Friends...of the Inyo "friendsraising" campaign.
Remember: When scrolling through our newsletter, you might come across a message at the bottom that says [Message clipped] and/or the hyperlink "View Entire Message." Be sure to click on the link to keep reading, as more news will be displayed. This is done to prevent bandwidth issues in e-mail delivery. Thank you. | | | | Happy reading—and if you like what you read, happy sharing! Sincerely, Louis (Lou) Medina
Communications and Philanthropy Director
Louis@friendsoftheinyo.org | | | | | |  |  | After a long hiatus, the BHCP Newsletter is back! The Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership (BHCP) Newsletter has been resurrected by Friends of the Inyo’s Policy Associate, Water and Forest Campaign Manager Allison Weber, who will be compiling content for this free quarterly e-publication going forward. Allison is also the new BHCP facilitator. Read this and other news in the January 2023 issue. If you are not yet a subscriber, the newsletter will tell you how to sign up. | | | | | | Friends of the Inyo Featured in the Latest Installment of the Golden State Naturalist Podcast Listen to FOI Policy Associate, Desert Lands Campaign Manager Kayla Browne and Environmental Scientist and Geographer Dan Duriscoe, who pioneered night sky protection for the U.S. National Park Service, talk about dark desert skies with GoldenStateNaturalist.com Podcast Creator and Host Michelle Fullner. Kayla and Dan shine in this latest installment of Michelle's podcast, sharing much knowledge about dark skies, light pollution, why the natural nighttime light emanating from the moon and stars is important to all living creatures, including humans, and more. | | | | Visit FriendsoftheInyo.org/Events later this spring to find out about our upcoming Dark Desert Skies Campouts in the Southern Inyo desert. | | | | | | | | | | | | FOI's Community Engagement Work Highlighted in Important Report Commissioned by Conservation Lands Foundation Friends of the Inyo is one of just five organizations from among CLF’s extensive Friends Grassroots Network featured in a newly released report titled Reframing Community-Based Conservation: Public Lands Advocacy in a Changing Cultural Landscape.” “We chose FOI as a case study because of the steady increase of the Hispanic population in their area, and for the strategies that they have used to make public lands advocacy more accessible to this population,” say the authors of the report, a team of University of Colorado Boulder Masters students in the field of Environmental and Natural Resources Policy. | | | | | | | | - Our "Amigos de Nuestras Tierras" ("Friends of Our Lands") column in local Spanish-language weekly El Sol de la Sierra this month, as well as its English translation in The Sierra Reader, is all about Snow School, a half-day, interactive scientific learning and play outing Friends of the Inyo offers to public school fifth graders in Bishop and Mammoth every winter, in collaboration with the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association (ESIA).
Read all about Bishop Snow School, which took place Jan. 31 - Feb. 2 in Aspendell. Mammoth Snow School will take place next week. To read our column, click to expand the images below of: - The front page of the Feb. 9-15 Issue of El Sol de la Sierra
- Page 11 of the Feb. 9-15 Issue of The Sierra Reader
You will also be able to download and print these pages in pdf format. Remember that you can also pick up a copy of El Sol or The Reader FREE OF CHARGE in stores and other businesses throughout the Eastern Sierra. Gracias! | | | | | | | | Summer Trail Ambassadors Needed - Apply by 3/24/2023! Position Description: 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, trail maintenance and guided interpretive hikes on popular hiking trails throughout the summer season beginning around May and ending around October (weather/season dependent). Use the button below to access and download a full job description and learn how to apply. Applications are due Friday, March 24. | | | | | | | | Dynamic Lecture Series in Feb. at Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center in Bishop! This month, the Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center is showcasing the artistic, writing, media, music and film talent of some of its members in the Nüümü Wia-Nü (The People's Way) Lecture Series. Lectures are free to the public and two 90-minute events are coming up this Saturday and next Monday as follows: - Sat., Feb. 11, at 5 p.m.: Natalie Haskins - An Evening of Poetry and Music
- Mon., Feb. 13, at 5:30 p.m.: Tazbah Chavez - Native Representation & Storytelling in Television: Beyond the Screen
To learn more about the upcoming featured artists, please click on the image of either of the fliers below to expand the view and to download. The cultural center is located at 2300 W. Line Street in Bishop. There is plenty of parking available. For more information, please call 760-873-8844. | | | | | | | |  |  | Photo - U.S. National Park Service Join Maturango Museum for a daylong field trip to Manzanar National Historic Site in Independence, CA, on March 17, 2023. This outing will include a visit to the Park Visitor Center with interpretive exhibits on the WWII internment of Japanese Americans at the Manzanar confinement camp, a bring-your-own picnic lunch at the recreated mess hall, and an afternoon site tour of Manzanar archeological work by nationally recognized National Park Service Archeologist Jeff Burton. The event, which begins at Manzanar, 5001 Highway 395, Independence, CA, is limited to 30 participants and is all-mobility accessible with tour walking options up to 3 miles. Vehicular loop road gives closer access to sites on grounds for those who are mobility-limited. Cost per person is $40 and includes a donation to Friends of Manzanar. Tickets for this field trip MUST be purchased through the Maturango Gift Shop, 100 East Las Flores Ave. in Ridgecrest, by calling 760-375-6900, or online by clicking on the button below. Trip details and meeting time will be sent out via e-mail one week before the event. | | | | Snow Surveys -
Volunteers Needed! | |  | Winter is upon us, and it is already gearing up to be a good one! FOI is once again collaborating with Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA) to collect some Winter Recreation Data to better inform the US Forest Service Subpart-C Winter Travel Management planning process. In the past two winter seasons, you might have seen an FOI staffer or board member out at Rock Creek Sno-Park or Obsidian Dome NordicTrack taking snow depth measurements or tallying recreational users. Well, we can always use the public's help! If you cross-country or backcountry (XC/BC) ski or snowboard, snowshoe, or snowmobile in the Inyo National Forest and would like to help the USFS make informed decisions about Winter Recreation and Over Snow Vehicle use, then join us in some "Citizen Science." Sign up with FOI at friendsoftheinyo.org/wintertravelplanning; you will receive details on how to download the RIMS app and begin logging data. Once you’ve signed up, you'll be ready to record some observations and be a volunteer field researcher! Questions? Contact Lindsay@friendsoftheinyo.org. Thank you! | | | | | | | |  | The latest (January 2023) issue of the official E-Newsletter of the Keep Long Valley Green Coalition (KLVG), Every Last Drop, asks the question: So much water in the form of snow on the Eastern Sierra, but what does the L.A. Department of Water & Power plan to do with it? Read this story and other news by clicking on the button below. Please encourage your friends and networks to read and subscribe to Every Last Drop. | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Want to support Friends of the Inyo? Consider making a donation online today!
Or help us Grow Our Circle of Friends...of the Inyo! by purchasing a membership for a friend or loved one. Thank you for your generous support. | | | | | | | |  | 'Friendsraising' If you love Friends of the Inyo and what we do for the Eastern Sierra, we need you to bring your friends, family members and networks on board as supporters, members or volunteers. That’s what “friendsraising” is: using YOUR connections to help a nonprofit grow its support base. Here is what you can do: - Keep your membership with FOI current by donating a minimum of $35 a year toward our work. A membership entitles you to receive our Jeffrey Pine Journal magazine delivered to your home free of charge, stay current on all our goings on through our Juniper E-Newsletter and our Action Alerts, and receive special announcements and event opportunities on a members-first basis.
- Gift a membership to a friend or loved one. We’ve made it easy for you to do so at friendsoftheinyo.org/donate.
- Sign up for and invite your friends to FOI events throughout the year, from the Owens Lake Bird Festival to online educational events to our Summer Interpretive Hikes to our Dark Desert Skies Campouts. Look for our events offering and sign up on our Events page, friendsoftheinyo.org/events.
- Encourage others to volunteer with Friends of the Inyo. Most of our volunteering events are half-day affairs out in nature from the spring through the fall. We provide coffee, snacks, and raffle prizes. If you are volunteering with us, bring a friend or two. For heartier souls, we have multi-day stewardship weeks out in Wilderness: Working hard for a good cause by day, and camping out under the stars at night is a great way to bond with others who value conservation as much as you do. Sign up – or get your friends to sign up – on our Events page. Or visit the Stewardship tab on our website and add your name to our new Volunteer Mailing List so you can be contacted for stewardship opportunities as they come up.
- Share our e-mail Action Alerts with people you know and encourage them to get involved. Many voices make for change.
- Encourage your friends to sign up to receive our Juniper Monthly E-Newsletter at friendsoftheinyo.org/subscribe.
Thank you! | | | | Friends of the Inyo appreciates the following organizations and local businesses for their generous monetary sponsorship of our programs: | | | | | | | | Inyo Mono Alpine County
Cattlemen’s Association | |  | | | | | | | Remember to update the address to our new location: Friends of the Inyo
621 W. Line St., Suite 201
Bishop, CA 93514 FriendsoftheInyo.org | | | | Like and follow us on social media: | | | | | | |
