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We are just two weeks out from the 10TH ANNUAL Owens Lake Bird Festival and seven tours are already fully sold out. Friends of the Inyo is so excited to see you all in the Little Town With Lots of Charm, Lone Pine, CA, this April 11-13th. 

Questions? Please reach out to info@friendsoftheinyo.org

Tickets on 11 diverse tours remain, but grab them quick, many of these tours have 5 or less spots available!

Grab em’ quick: tours with 5 or less spots left

Sat. PM 12:30-4:30: Birding on Owens Lake with Ali Sheehey

Sat. AM 7:30-11:30pm: Geology and Natural History of the Alabama Hills with Dave Kirk 

Sat. PM 12:30-4:30pm: Beyond the Binoculars, Birding on Owens Lake with Gena Wood from Eastern Sierra Land Trust 

Sat. PM 12:30-4:30pm: Desert Plant Walk in the Alabama Hills with Sierra Forever's Ashley Anderson

Sun. AM 7:30-11:30am: Lower Owens River Project with Wendy Schneider and Lynn Boulton

Sat. FULL DAY 8:30am-4:30pm: Historic Mining Town of Cerro Gordo with Max Rosan

THE FREE KIDS TOUR: 

Sat. AM 7:30-11:30am: Introduction to Birding for Kids in Spainhower Park and Edwards Field with Maggie Riley

Free and open to kids ages 6-12, materials provided and parents welcome to join them. RSVP required through the OLBF tickets page: 

Bring your friends: tours with more than 5 spots available 

Sat. AM 7:30-11:30am: Non-Technical Bird Photography on Owens Lake

Sun. AM 7:30-11:30am: Plein Air Session Overlooking the Owens River

Sat. FULL DAY 8:30am-4:30pm: Conglomerate Mesa Hike with Friends of the Inyo's Jaime Lopez Wolters

Sat. PM 12:30-4:30pm: Plein Air Session at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center

Bridgeport Memorial Hall 73 N. School St., Bridgeport, CA, CA, United States

Join us in person for a presentation on gold exploration in the Bodie Hills by the Sierra Club and Great Basin Resource Watch at Bridgeport Memorial Hall, 73 N. School St., Bridgeport, CA.

California and specifically the Sierra Nevada region is both an old and new extractive frontier, with hotspots of environmental injustice. Abandoned gold rush era mines have left a toxic legacy that continues to impact communities and ecosystems. Recently, high gold prices have sparked renewed interest in exploration for open pit mines, threatening biologically diverse and sacred landscapes from the Sierras to the desert. 

Join us to learn about mining threats in the Sierra Nevada: what is happening, what are the impacts, how it conflicts with the State and National conservation goals, and what we can do to help. We are pleased to offer the opportunity for the general public to join for FREE.

Questions? Email allison@friendsoftheinyo.org

Join us for a Volunteer Wilderness Week! Come participate from July 24-28 in the Golden Trout Wilderness or from August 21-24 in the White Mountains. 

Learn more about each of the Volunteer Wilderness Weeks here:

Questions? Email izzy@friendsoftheinyo.org 

Photo Credit: Vikki Glinskii 

We're excited to kick off another season of caring for our public lands. While we’re just starting to add stewardship events to the calendar, many more opportunities will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay in the loop by checking our events calendar or signing up for our volunteer email list. 

Here are the dates we have so far. Some events may not be on the events calendar yet, but will be posted as soon as we have more details to share.

• May 18, 2025 (Sunday): Fire Ring Restoration with the Whitebark Institute along the Mammoth Scenic Loop
• June 22, 2025 (Sunday): Stewardship with the Mono Lake Chautaqua
• June 28, 2025 (Saturday): June Lake Trails Day
• July 24 - 28 (Thursday - Monday): Golden Trout Wilderness Volunteer Work Week
• August 21 - 24 (Thursday - Sunday): White Mountains Volunteer Work Week
• September TBD: Inyo Mountains Wilderness Work Week 

We can't wait to see you out on the trails!

Stewardship is off to a fantastic start this year, and we’re so grateful to everyone who lent a hand this month.

On March 9th, we partnered with the Bishop Climbing Rangers and the Moderate Bishop Bouldering Meetup for the third in a series of trail delineation days at the Buttermilks. With the help of over 20 dedicated volunteers, the process of delineating the Peabody area is now complete, reducing erosion and giving fragile plant life a better chance to thrive. Stay tuned for the next one -- it’ll be happening in April.

 
Later in the month, we teamed up with Flash Foxy, the Climbing Rangers, and the Forest Service for another fun and productive day at the Buttermilks. Over 50 volunteers joined us to plant native vegetation and further delineate trails. Wave to those baby plants next time you’re at the Buttermilks parking area!  

Stewardship Fun Fact: Did you know that any area in the Buttermilks not marked as a trail is considered an active restoration area? Stay on trail and don’t crush the brush! 

A huge thank you to all the volunteers and partners who made these events possible. Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved — we can’t wait to see you out there.

Questions? Email izzy@friendsoftheinyo.org

We are accepting applications for the 2025 Trail Ambassadors! 

TAs support Inyo, Sierra, & Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests. They provide trail-maintenance, public service, outreach, and interpretation on popular hiking trails. Their typical season is May to October.

Send a cover letter and resume to izzy@friendsoftheinyo.org by April 11, 2025.

We would love to see your article submissions for the Jeffrey Pine Journal, our bi-annual printed publication.

We are looking for evergreen content, meaning the topic of the article remains relevant and interesting over time. We're particularly interested in submissions about species and ecosystem health, historic events, land use issues, ecological impacts, etc. The word count of the article should be between 500-1000 words.

If you're interested in participating, send in your article idea at the form below. We'll reach out and let you know if your article idea seems like a good fit for the publication. Thank you!

Community Art Day and Sierra Earth Day

Live Music, Kids' Activities, Artisan Booths, Food Vendors, and Dog Adoptions!

When: April 12, 2025, from 10AM-3PM

Where: Bishop City Park

Presented by Inyo Council for the Arts and Bishop Sunrise Rotary 

Bishop Paiute Tribe's Earth Day and Spring Market

When: April 13, 8:30AM-3PM

Where: the Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center

8AM-10:30AM: Community Roadside Clean-up

10:30AM-3PM: Activity Tables, Information Booths, Spring Market Craft Vendors, Food, Live Music, and More!

Questions? Reach out to  sage.neely@bishoppaiute.org

12th Annual Lone Pine Tribal Earth Day Celebration

Solutions to Climate Change: Incorporating our Lived Experience

When: April 26, 2025, 9AM - 12:30PM

Where: LPPSR Tribal Gym - 1145 E-Sha Lane

9-10AM: Reservation Roads Clean Up

Meet at the Gymnasium Parking Lot 

Bags, grabbers, and water bottles will be provided

10AM-12PM: Community Outreach Fair

11:30AM-12:30PM: Participant Luncheon

The PCTA is looking for volunteers in Olancha Pass from 4/18 - 4/20. Work will be focused on brushing, treading, pole sawing, and removing rocks from the trail. This is the last in a series of projects in this area that will make this key PCT-access route accessible to mules so that tools can be packed into the PCT for trail work this summer.

Questions? Email Suzanne Hessler at shessler@pcta.org

The corral facility is located on 80 acres of withdrawn Navy and BLM lands, four miles east of Ridgecrest on the Randsburg-Wash Road off California Highway 178. It is available for individual and group tours and has a two-track dirt perimeter road that allows visitors to get a quality view of the animals. If driving, a vehicle with high clearance is recommended. 

Adoptions are by appointment or during scheduled open house events, typically 7-9 a.m. July-September, and 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. October-June, on the first and third Fridays of each month. Check the event schedule for dates and times, cancellations or postponements of events will be announced on social media.

Contact Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Facility for more information about the Wild Horse and Burro program or to make an adoption appointment.

Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Facility

3647-A Randsburg Wash Road, Trona, CA 93562

Phone: (760) 384 5765
Toll-free: (800)-951-8720

E-mail:  blm_ca_ridgecrestcorrals@blm.gov

Main Office:

621 W. Line St., Suite 201
Bishop, CA 93514

Satellite Office:

142 E. Bush St.

Lone Pine, CA 93545

Visit us online:

FriendsoftheInyo.org

Write to us:

info@friendsoftheinyo.org

Call us:

(760) 873-6500

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