A quinceañera, a mild case of COVID, Friends of the Inyo’s partnerships and more! We have lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Read all about it in the combined October/November Issue of The Juniper.
Conglomerate Mesa
Conglomerate Mesa Western Joshua Tree Survey, October 21-23, 2023 Blogpost and Photos By Jaime Lopez-Wolters, Friends of the Inyo Desert Lands Organizer Conglomerate Mesa has been under threat from mining companies looking to extract gold from its soil since the 1970s. The latest company to try its luck is Canadian firm K2 Gold, through its local subsidiary, Mojave Precious Metals (MPM). Defenders of the land have always known that the area is special, not in the least because of the thriving high-elevation Western Joshua Tree forest that it harbors. Until recently, the value of these fragile, otherworldly desert plants was…
The California Fish and Game Commission voted today (Oct. 11, 2023) to permanently protect Inyo rock daisies as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act.“This vote is a huge victory for these special wildflowers,” said botanist Maria Jesus, whose field surveys document the plant’s current range. “With the threat of a massive gold mine looming on the horizon, this rare daisy now has help from the state of California to prevent it from sliding into extinction.”
Conglomerate Mesa needs our protection! Canadian company K2 Gold’s “modified” mining proposal could impact up to 15 acres of pristine lands that are sacred to Paiute-Shoshone and Timbisha-Shoshone peoples in Southern Inyo County, and a haven for thriving Joshua Trees and other threatened plants and animals. Join us Labor Day for a “Protect Rally” at Spainhower Park in Lone Pine, as we tell K2 Gold we want them to go home! Click on the image at left to download our flier. Help us share this information with others! Want to help us make posters for the rally? Come to Friends…
Your comments in 2021 against K2 Gold’s exploratory drilling operations at Conglomerate Mesa in Southern Inyo County caused the BLM’s Ridgecrest Field Office to consider requiring an Environmental Impact Statement. Now you have an opportunity, during the Open Comment Period from Aug. 16 to Oct. 16, to provide feedback on what the EIS should include. Check out our Action Alert to learn how to submit your comments to help #ProtectConglomerateMesa.
Earth Law, a new partnership to defend Hot Creek from mining, other collaborations, and lots and lots of events! But if you don’t read the August issue of The Juniper, you’ll never know! Happy reading…And if you like what you read, happy sharing!
Pine nuts, a high-energy food, helped sustain Native peoples of the Eastern Sierra through the winter. Friends of the Inyo’s annual impact report, which we usually release at mid-year to celebrate the previous year’s accomplishments, is symbolically named thus to acknowledge the support of our donors, funders, and volunteers, whose generosity sustains our work of protecting and caring for the land and water of the Eastern Sierra.
If you don’t read Friends of the Inyo’s Juniper E-Newsletter, you’ll never know all that we have coming up this month! And you might miss out on our Latino Conservation Week Outreach Event, Nature Connectivity and Credit, in Downtown Bishop Saturday afternoon/evening, July 15. There will be Latin music, raffles and FREE FOOD: Two tacos to the first 200 attendees, courtesy of AltaOne Federal Credit Union. Tell your amigos who don’t have credit – the primary aim of this event is to try to help people who are unbanked establish credit so they can access our National Parks, which are…
Speak Up On How Bureau of Land Management Lands Should Be Managed! – Attend an in-person or online public meeting in early June (two dates to choose from), and offer YOUR public comments on the BLM’s draft Public Lands Rule, a once-in-a-generation change on the Bureau’s land management priorities; and/or – Submit written comments by the June 20th deadline!
If you have not yet made up your mind about joining Friends of the Inyo for our FREE Spring Dark Desert Skies Campout at Conglomerate Mesa this coming weekend, May 19-21, perhaps listening to our Desert Lands Organizer, Jaime Lopez Wolters, talk about the wonders that await will entice you. Listen to his guest appearance on KMMT FM Radio’s Arts, Culture & Entertainment (ACE) Show last Friday, May 12, get to know him a little better, and learn what you will be missing if you don’t join us for what promises to be a wonderful experience under the stars!