The Eastern Sierra Citizens' Wilderness Proposals
Links to the specific proposal areas:
Hoover additions | Granite Mountains | Owens River Headwaters | John Muir/Ansel Adams | White Mountains
The bottom of the page has a map of the wilderness proposals, with links to larger maps.
The Eastern Sierra contains 1/4 of the unprotected Wilderness acreage left in California. Over the last few years, Friends of the Inyo has worked with local volunteers and other citizens to map and develop Wilderness proposals for some of our most spectacular publicly-owned wild lands.
The Eastern Sierra Citizens' Wilderness Proposals would permanently protect critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep below the current John Muir Wilderness boundary, preserve the Headwaters of the Upper Owens River, source of the Eastern Sierra's finest wild trout stream and safeguard America's highest desert mountain range, the White Mountains.
With our booming population, Wilderness is the best tool we have to ensure that our children and our grandchildren will inherit a landscape in much the same state as we find it today.
Below is a map showing our current Eastern Sierra Citizens' Wilderness Proposals, totaling approximately 1/3 of the potential Wilderness acreage. These draft boundaries are the result of over 3 years of field mapping, research by local volunteers and interns, as well as input received from up and down the Eastern Sierra.
"In order to assure that a growing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of Wilderness."
-Opening text of the 1964 Wilderness Act
Both maps and write-ups of each proposal are available below. The map files are large and may take some time to download. Thank you for your patience, and if you have any questions, please call Paul McFarland at (760) 873-6400.
Click here for a Question and Answer page regarding Wilderness designation.
