About Friends of the Inyo
Who we are
Founded in 1986, Friends of the Inyo is based in Bishop, California and is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to preserving the Eastside's unique qualities: its diverse wild lands, scenic beauty, wild rivers, varied flora and fauna, and abundant opportunities for low-impact recreation.
Through a combination of wild land defense, outreach and education, and Wilderness Advocacy, together we can ensure that this remarkable place is preserved for future generations of people, plants and animals.
Our Team
We have a great staff and board. To find out more about them please go here.
What we do
Wilderness Education and Outreach
Over the last several years, volunteers have been mapping the Eastside's potential wilderness. With the mapping nearing completion, Friends of the Inyo, working with other conservation groups and individuals in the region, will now focus its efforts on educating the public about these unprotected wild lands. Through field trips, slide shows, maps and informational pamphlets we hope to introduce people to these remarkable and threatened places and build support for their permanent protection as wilderness.
Outreach Slideshows and Talks for groups and Schools
Eastern Sierra Wildlife and Wilderness * Public Lands 101 * Local Stewardship * Great Basin Biology Basics* Sierran Endemic Species * Biology, Botany and Bugs * - Fun Outdoor Education Activities designed using California Education Standards!
Wild land Defense
We work to defend the Eastern Sierra's unprotected Forest Service Roadless Areas and Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) from threats which compromise their ecological integrity and wilderness potential. Hard rock mining, ski area expansion, and off-road vehicle intrusion continually threaten to degrade our wild lands. Just this last summer, Friends of the Inyo, The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, the Western Mining Action Project and local activists came together to defeat a large-scale mining proposal in the Rough Creek watershed within the Bodie WSA, near Bodie State Historic Park.
Ski Area Citizens' Coalition
In an effort to educate America's skiing public about the environmental impacts and policies of western ski resorts, Friends of the Inyo joined together with conservation organizations throughout the west as the Ski Area Citizens' Coalition to produce the first ever Ski Area Environmental Scorecard. Over 50 ski areas throughout the west were awarded grades based on numerous criteria: ski area expansion, watershed and forest stewardship, real estate speculation, snowmaking expansion, recycling, public disclosure policies, and other areas of concern to the conservation community and the skiing public. Friends of the Inyo awarded the Eastern Sierra's Mammoth Mountain a solid C for their current environmental practices. To see a detailed breakdown of Mammoth's and other ski area's scores, go to www.skiareacitizens.com.
Monitor Growing Off-Road Vehicle Use
Off-road vehicle use is on the rise in the Eastern Sierra, and it doesn't take long to notice the increasing impacts of illegal and damaging use on our public lands. To ensure rules are enforced and the land is protected, Friends of the Inyo has begun an intensive monitoring program to track the growing problem of off-road vehicle abuse on public lands. Through public education, working with land managers to ensure resource protection, and encouraging citizen involvement we can make sure there is room for everyone. Click to learn what you can do to ensure proper management of off-road vehicles on our public lands.
The Eastern Sierra
The diverse wildlands of the Eastern Sierra are a national treasure, known and loved by many as a vast, undeveloped paradise of grand, open vistas with endless ridges to wander, peaks to climb, sly trout to catch and unending silence to enjoy. This "land of little rain," nestled between the majestic Sierra Nevada and the enigmatic White-Inyo Mountains, is home to over 35% of California's native species and some of the most spectacular scenery in the West. The Endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, Owen's Valley pupfish, and over 200 endemic plants are found nowhere else in the world.
With approximately 1.5 million acres of potential wilderness (over 40 Forest Service Inventoried Roadless Areas and 25 BLM Wilderness Study Areas) in the Mono-Inyo county region, the Eastside contains one quarter of the potential wilderness acreage in the state of California! Vulnerable to a host of threats, such as ski area development, cyanide heap-leach mining, off-road vehicle proliferation, resort development, and excessive groundwater extraction, the Eastern Sierra needs your help to stay WILD!
Yet because the Eastern Sierra remains, geographically-speaking, "behind the Sierra curtain," most people are not aware of these threats. In order to ensure that the Eastside's spectacular and biologically-rich wildlands are preserved for future generations of plants, animals and people, it is critical that we build strong and lasting support for this wild and remote side of the state.