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L-R: Friends of the Inyo's Staff Members, Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud, Policy Director Jora Fogg, Desert Lands Organizer Kayla Browne and Communications and Philanthropy Director Louis Medina at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM, for Conservation Lands Foundation's Friends Summit in mid-May.

FOI Staff Flew to NM for a Conference and Came Back Soaring!

Four of us from Friends of the Inyo (see photo caption above) were invited to Conservation Lands Foundation's 2022 Friends Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from May 17 through 19. CLF convened hundreds of participants representing some 80 nonprofits that are members of CLF's Friends Grassroots Network, whose work is focused on protecting National Conservation Lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. 

After traveling all day, we made it just in time for the opening evening program and were greeted by (Surprise!) the announcement that CLF's Advocate of the Year Award was going to our Policy Director, Jora Fogg, for her outstanding work in protecting Eastern Sierra public lands, particularly the Bodie Hills and Conglomerate Mesa. We were all stunned, grateful, and elated, especially Jora, who was presented with a framed award that included a large print of the Bodie Hills photo below by renowned retired BLM photographer Bob Wick. And the icing on the cake was this: Thanks to Jora's accomplishments, Friends of the Inyo will receive a $5,000 grant from CLF to help further our work in public lands conservation and protection. Jora truly made us all very proud! 

After starting out on that high note, the CLF Friends Summit just kept getting better, affording all of us useful takeaways.

Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud, whose team is primarily involved in public land management and restoration, education and volunteer engagement, appreciated learning about the policy and advocacy aspect of public lands protection at the workshops he attended.

Desert Lands Organizer Kayla Browne was overwhelmed by the support and sense of community she found among other summit attendees. "While the Friends Grassroots Network members might be spread out across the country, we are all working to protect our public lands," she said. 

For my part, I was grateful to get some useful tips on fundraising at a couple of workshops led by Kim Klein, whose authoritative book, "Fundraising for Social Change," is now in its 8th edition; but I was also honored with the opportunity to present at the Friends Summit.

My workshop, "Implementing NEPA in Today's Diverse America," looked at how we can leverage existing resources to help federal agencies improve cultural sensitivity and multilingual outreach, and engage underrepresented communities in the National Environmental Policy Act process of seeking public input on projects that could adversely impact the environment. The workshop was well received, and we are now working with CLF to try to get greater visibility for these ideas among federal land management agencies.

As you can see, we had a productive time at the CLF Friends Summit and came back soaring high with inspiration.

And if that's not enough to make us feel grateful, we have other great news to share in this month's Juniper, which is all about the community impact we are making with YOUR support, including:

  • Our Pine Nuts Annual Impact Report, featuring a new, two-page format. You will be pleasantly surprised to see what YOU helped us accomplish in 2021.
  • Our ever popular Summer Stewardship Program with lots of events and a brand-new team of Trail Ambassadors! Learn about them in the Stewardship & Events Section below. And...
  • The new truck in our vehicle fleet! 

It really does feel like a "Thanksgiving in Summer" issue. You'll see when you start scrolling.    

Happy reading—and if you like what you read, happy sharing! 

Sincerely,

Louis (Lou) Medina
Communications and Philanthropy Director
Louis@friendsoftheinyo.org

PLEASE NOTE: As Friends of the Inyo's work grows, so does our Juniper Newsletter. It is possible that as you are scrolling, you will come across a message at the bottom that says [Message clipped] and/or the hyperlink "View Entire Message." Be sure to click on the hyperlink to keep reading, as more news will be displayed once you click on the link. This is done to prevent bandwidth issues in e-mail delivery. Thank you. 

Thank You!

 

Through a fundraising letter mailed out earlier this year, we appealed to you, our supporters, for help to expand our vehicle fleet and you came through!

In the photo above, Stewardship Manager Lindsay Butcher captured the happy moment when Friends of the Inyo’s Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud received the keys to a pre-owned 2018 4WD Toyota Tacoma from the Reno Carmax salesman.

This fifth vehicle in our fleet will help FOI’s Stewardship Team with projects across the Inyo and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests, Lindsay said, including cleanup events throughout the summer, and immersive, weeklong volunteer stewardship projects in the backcountry (at Cottonwood Creek in the White Mountains, and out of the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe). “This truck will definitely be put to good use hauling tools, supplies, and people to these remote projects,” she said. 

 

2021 Impact Report

Just like pine nuts traditionally were a source of much needed high-energy food for Native peoples of the Eastern Sierra during the cold winter months, your giving supports Friends of the Inyo and keeps us going strong throughout the year as we continue in the good fight to protect and care for local public lands. That's why our Annual Impact Report is called "Pine Nuts." Click on the button or image below to see just how much we were able to accomplish in 2021 with your support. Thank you!

 

Stewardship & Events

L-R: Trail Ambassador Bradley Olson, Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud, and TAs Will Young, Cordero Chavez and Jean Redle. 

Volunteering, Hiking, Learning: Summer is Always Better with Friends ... of the Inyo!

Always cheerful, Friends of the Inyo's Stewardship Director Alex Ertaud is especially so at this time of year, when he welcomes a new team of Trail Ambassadors into the FOI ranks. The button below will take you straight to Alex's latest blog post, where he talks about our Summer Stewardship Program in partnership with the Inyo and Humbold-Toiyabe National Forests, introduces our new Trail Ambassadors (Cordero, Will, Jean and Bradley) and their respective assignments, and lists the following volunteering opportunities, which are open to the public and for which you can RSVP today:

Recently, Alex was a guest on KMMT Mammoth FM Radio's ACE (Arts, Culture & Entertainment) Show, where he talked with Host John DeMaria about Friends of the Inyo, with an emphasis on our Summer Stewardship Program. Besides FOI's volunteering opportunities and educational outings, John and Alex also discussed fatherhood and astrology of all things! It was a fun show. Click on our media partner KMMT's logo and have a listen. 

 

Spanish Outreach 

English-Spanish Translation is Always Better with Friends ... of the Inyo!

At Friends of the Inyo, we appreciate the Inyo National Forest and Bureau of Land Management's efforts to keep the public informed about stricter fire restrictions in the Eastern Sierra with the advent of the summer season. These restrictions are for everyone's safety, which is why we posted the INF/BLM News Release on our website. 

But we didn't stop there: We translated the most important parts of the news release for the benefit of our Spanish-speaking neighbors in the Eastern Sierra, and included this life-saving information in our monthly column, "Amigos de Nuestras Tierras" ("Friends of Our Lands"), in Spanish-language weekly El Sol de la Sierra. It is on the front page of this week's issue, which comes out today (June 9) and you can download it in PDF format by clicking on the button or image below—or better yet, pick up a printed copy of the paper FREE in businesses throughout Inyo and Mono Counties. Please help us spread the word by sharing this information with your Spanish-speaking family, friends and neighbors.

 
 

#KeepLongValleyGreen

Find news and updates from the latest issue as well as all past issues of Every Last Drop, the official newsletter of the Keep Long Valley Green Coalition, here.

Use the button below to subscribe to the newsletter so you can stay up to date with all coalition news and developments. 

Desert Campout Recap

For Desert Lands Organizer Kayla Browne, FOI's
Dark Desert Skies Campout (May 20-22) was just as much about all we can see under Daytime Desert Skies!

Want to support Friends of the Inyo? Consider making a donation online today!

Thank you for your generous support.

Other Ways to Give

Friends of the Inyo recently received two dozen copies of renowned local photographer Claude Fiddler's breathtaking new book of 55 Heaven-on-Earth photographs, Inside the High Sierra. Here is a recent story about Fiddler and his work that appeared in The Sheet.

This handsome coffee table book makes for a great Father's Day or Graduation gift for a loved one. There are various ways to purchase it, including online and at local book merchants in Bishop, Mammoth and Lee Vining. But if you want to swing by Friends of the Inyo's office at 621 W. Line Street, Suite 201, in Downtown Bishop, you can buy a copy for the $100 retail price and not have to worry about paying for tax and shipping, plus your purchase will turn into a contribution toward the fulfilment of our mission to protect and care for the public lands of the Eastern Sierra: the very public lands Fiddler photographs so masterfully.

Just call ahead (760.873.6500) M-F, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to let us know when you'll be stopping by. The book includes a card signed by the author, plus information on how to purchase individual prints. 

Thank you!

 
Friends of the Inyo appreciates the following organizations and local businesses for their generous 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

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