Bring Friends and Family for Fun, Food
and Great Conversation!
INYO350 and 350 Mono and partners, the Sierra Club Range of Light Group, Friends of the Inyo, and other great friends are excited to host you at Izaak Walton Park at 4:00 on Sunday, August 21st. We are FINALLY gathering in person to laugh, eat, be inspired by a great speaker, listen to music and engage with each other on local issues and future actions we can take together. We will celebrate the passage of the "Inflation Reduction Act" in Congress, which contains the largest ever investment in addressing global climate change issues.
We are honored to present special guest speaker Chris Bubser, who was nearly elected our Congressional Representative in 2020. She has a long history of working for racial, social and environmental justice and helping elect leaders who will improve our world. Chris is an engaging speaker with much to share. Local musician Dan Connor will share some amazing and poignant music, and there’ll be fun activities for any age. Dive into discussions with your INYO350 Board Members and other local groups. Mostly, it’s a chance to connect with and make some new good friends.
To reduce waste, PLEASE bring your own reusable plates and utensils and cups (we’ll have extras, too!).
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 ESLT-Range of Light Group
Great Sierra River Cleanup
Saturday September 17, 9am-12pm
Join the Range of Light Group and the Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) in cleaning up one of our waterways. Location TBD. ESLT will provide PPE and trash bags. Please wear long pants and sturdy footwear, bring a water bottle, wear sun protection, and bring a trash grabber if you have one.
You can register with Claire at claire@eslt.org. Mark your calendars!
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 Range of Light Group
Highway Cleanup
Saturday September 24, 8am-11am
Please join us for our 30th highway cleanup season. The Range of Light Group has a 2-mile section of Highway 395 north of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Meet at the Crestview Rest Area, 5 miles north of Mammoth lakes. Wear closed shoes, hat, and dress in layers. A mask is briefly required in the car when you are shuttled to your starting location. Snacks provided and there is a prize for the most unusual roadside find. No dogs while picking up trash, please. Help keep the tradition going. RSVP: Dick or sign up on MeetUp. Photo credit: J. Hihn
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Update on Exploratory Drilling Projects
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KORE Mining at Hot Creek Update
The hearing was July 29 and next comes the judge's decision whether the Inyo National Forest could rely on the categorical exclusions or needs to do additional NEPA review. KORE Mining will give the Forest Service a two-week notice before starting and one of them will notify the court as well. KORE Mining said that they can wait a few weeks, but they want to finish before winter sets in. They might even start before the judge makes her decision! So we might see heavy equipment and drill rigs across from the Hot Creek Fly Fishing Ranch this September. If you want to help, get on the mailing list--click here! We need volunteers and donations! Save this date too!
 5K/10K Trout Trot at Hot CreekSaturday, October 8
Run for Fun!
Help Raise $ and Awareness!
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Three Drilling Projects in the Bodie Hills--Nevada Side
 Bald Peak, Nevada — A decision memo will be coming out soon. This project will be a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This in a remote part of the Bodie Hills and will be accessed solely by helicopter. Paramount Gold will use drilling platforms to avoid surface disturbances. However, it is in Bi-state Sage Grouse territory and on a pronghorn migration route. The helicopters may impact them.
 Sawtooth Ridge at Aurora, Nevada—A decision memo is expected late September-October, which will determine if this project will have a categorical exclusion or will require an environment assessment. Sawtooth Ridge is behind the historic Aurora Cemetery and is covered in mature, large pinyon pine trees. It was explored about 30 years ago and the scars are still visible. However, after this project, the hillside will become bare as hundreds of trees will be removed. Klondex will be doing the drilling for Hecla Nevada.
 Spring Peak/Aurora Peak, Nevada—Headwater Gold will continue drilling this fall under a 1-year categorical exclusion. However, this is the second calendar year of activities under the OceanaGold Spring Peak Exploration Drilling Project Decision Memo. They drilled at five of the 23 planned locations last August.
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Who Maintains the Mountain Peak Registers?
 Peak Baggers! Check the peak registers! The Sierra Club places official registers on many mountains throughout California and the United States. These are typically small notebooks kept inside large metal boxes. When registers are filled up, they are collected and stored in the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, California where they are available to view.
I called the library and spoke with a real person, a librarian, and she said that yes they do collect these and it falls under the purview of the Western Americana Curator. The information about the Sierra Mountain Registers and Records archives is available online here.
This collection contains the Sierra Club Mountaineering Committee records, artifacts including register containers, and mountain registers mainly from California summits of the Sierra Nevada. The Mountaineering Committee was formed in 1932 with Francis P. Farquhar as its chairman. Initially it planned to compile and index a list of early ascents and summit records of the Sierra Nevada. Later the Committee was also engaged in documenting mountain register records and adding historical notations to climbing routes. We don't have a list of peaks, yet, but the collection includes registers from:
Banner Peak Mount Everest (but I don't think we'll make it to that one)
Bear Creek Spire Grandma's Nobbin
Bishop Pass Mount Langley
Boundary Peak Lone Pine Peak
Carson Peak Mammoth Mountain !!!
Cloud Ripper Telescope Peak
Clyde Minaret Mount Tom
Dunderberg Peak White Mountain
So what do you do with a full register? If anyone has full registers or knows of peaks that need a register change-out, contact me about that. There is also a website collecting this information.
by Kristine Green
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Range of Light Group Outings Report
from our new outings chair!
It seems Covid changed everything, and the Range of Light Group, like the rest of the world is on the road to recovery and normalcy. However, there is one new change. Per Sierra Club policy, backcountry hikes now require medical forms. It sounds onerous, but all you have to do is fill it out once and bring it with you. Just keep it in your pack. A link to the form will be provided in the hike descriptions.
Our previous Outings Leader, Dick Hihn, recently choose to step down. He will be sorely missed as he led countless hikes for ROLG in the Eastern Sierra. Dick and Joanne will continue to be active in leading hikes, the Adopt-a-Road clean up at Crestview, and are planning to help maintain the blue diamonds on the cross-country trails in the Mammoth Lakes area.
Kristine Green has volunteered to temporarily act as Outings Leader until a permanent one is found. Kristine, although a recent addition to the ROLG executive committee, has many years of hiking experience in the Sierra, Los Padres National Forest, Angeles National Forest, and the Santa Monica Mountains. She would like to organize one short, after-work-weekday hike a week, and more back country hikes on the weekends. We have a few Sierra Club qualified hike leaders who are ready to get back on the trail. We have been focused on tours of areas impacted by exploratory drilling or groundwater extraction lately interspersed with shorter outings involving birdwatching and taking pictures for posting to iNaturalist. If you would like to lead hikes, we'd love to support you in doing that! Contact Kristine.
 Let Dick Hihn know if you are interested in a work project attending to our Blue Diamond routes for cross-country skiing. Dick and Joanne walked the one from the Scenic Loop to Shady Rest. More tree trimming is needed, as some diamonds are becoming hidden by new growth. Also, some diamonds are missing, need repainting, or relocating from dead trees to healthy ones. The route may also need an additional diamond here and there. Other blue diamond routes such as the connector from Scenic Loop to Inyo Craters route, Inyo Craters Route, Obsidian Dome loops, and Earthquake Fault “loop” may be similarly affected. This is a great opportunity to get familiar with these trails before they're covered in snow and get psyched up for hitting those trails in the winter.
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Subscribe to Every Last Drop
 New editions of Every Last Drop are out. Have you been keeping up? This is a great way to find out about LADWP's impact on the Owens Valley!
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If you would like to help us protect the environment, contact us. We'd love to have you help and input! Thank you! You may also join the Range of Light Group Executive Committee meeting on September 12 at 4 pm. Information for how to join will be on the Range of Light Group's MeetUp.
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Serving Inyo and Mono Counties
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