Island in the Sky Film Screening October 4
|
|
The Conglomerate Mesa Coalition invite you to join them Wednesday evening, October 4, from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm, for a FREE online showing of Island in the Sky, a short documentary film about Conglomerate Mesa, to be followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion.
The 20-minute film was produced with support from Patagonia and highlights the voices of local community members who share what they think of Canadian company K2 Gold's proposed mining exploration project and potential full-scale mine at Conglomerate Mesa. Please RSVP using this link. Only folks who RSVP will be sent the Zoom link for the event.
|
An Amargosa Basin National Monument
|
|
Inyo County is the second largest county in California, which may explain why those who live in Inyo County have never heard of, or been to, the Amargosa Basin. Just pronouncing it can be tricky. Find Bishop on a county map and locate the villages of Shoshone and Tecopa and you’ll see that the two areas couldn’t be farther apart and still be in the same county.
Nonetheless, something big is happening in this out-of-the-way corner, a campaign is in place to create the Amargosa Basin National Monument (ABNM). The proposed borders would be Death Valley National Park on the west, the Nevada border on the east, and continuing south nearly to Interstate 15. It could encompass the villages of Death Valley Junction, Shoshone, Tecopa Hot Springs and Tecopa, and at its heart will be the Amargosa River, which runs above and below ground from its headwaters just east of Beatty to the Badwater in Death Valley. Find out more about this special area... |
Presentation on the Proposed Amargosa Basin NM October 18
|
Save the Date!
Please mark your calendars now and plan to join us on Wednesday, October 18, for a special presentation: AMARGOSA NATIONAL MONUMENT – A Dream in Progress with Susan Sorrells, from 6:00PM–8:00PM.
Susan's presentation will take place at the Jill Kinmont Boothe School at 166 Grandview Road in Bishop. She will discuss her history in Shoshone and the dream of creating an Amargosa National Monument. There will be pizza! And we'll share more details as the date draws closer, but for more information now, please email INYO350 Board member Janet Barth at janetrbarth@gmail.com. |
Exploratory Drilling Started in the Bodie Hills
|
Two of the five exploratory drilling projects in the Bodie Hills started this summer at Spring Peak and at Sawtooth Ridge. It starts with grading the roads to the sites.
|
Exploratory drilling has resumed for the third year at Spring Peak in the southeast corner of the Bodie Hills. Roads in were graded and widened.
Headwater Gold had drilled only at nine of the 23 permitted locations at the end of last year. They started earlier this year, in July, so they might finish this fall. This project was approved by the USFS under the categorical exclusion "Short-term (1 year or less) mineral, energy, or geophysical investigations and their incidental support activities that may require cross-country travel by vehicles and equipment, construction of less than 1 mile of low standard road, or use and minor repair of existing roads." The Bridgeport District Ranger interpreted the 1-year rule as 365 days out in the field, which is why it is still going on when work started in 2020. |
| Exploratory drilling has started at Sawtooth Ridge in the Bodie Hills near the historic Aurora Cemetery. Klondex/Hecla Nevada put in two roads and were drilling on August 13. The plan calls for four new roads and 16 drill pads. Young pinyon pine trees were removed that were growing in the old road scars from a drilling project 30 years ago. Hundreds of mature, healthy, pinyon trees will be ripped out by the end of this drilling project. It takes 35 years before pinyon trees start bearing cones. This will be a significant loss. |
Hot Creek / Long Valley -- Won't Be Starting This Year
|
The appeal hearing was August 24 and the decision came out the next day in our favor. We expect the next step will be for KORE Mining to prepare an Environmental Assessment that will be reviewed by the public. We are waiting for the final opinion from the appeal court that will instruct the Forest Service on what to do.
If you would like to help, more information, or to receive a NHCM-specific newsletter contact nohotcreekmine.com |
Conglomerate Mesa: Time to Comment!
|
The BLM opened a 60-day scoping public comment period on August 16 for an exploratory drilling project at Conglomerate Mesa. Mojave Precious Metals (MPM), a subsidiary of K2 Gold, has submitted a plan of operations requesting permission to drill at 30 locations in a remote, roadless area at Conglomerate Mesa. They are proposing to put in roads to reach the drill sites, reclaim/undo them when they are done and then sprinkle seed on them. This will leave visible scars for decades. The plants and animals in the way will lose their homes. One Panamint rattlesnake in particular is in the path of destruction. It was sleeping in the sun. It took me awhile to notice it, I was so intently looking at the fossils in the rocks that I didn't see it at first. It was only inches away.
You can comment on this project here (Participate Now button). Ask the BLM to require MPM to use a helicopter to get to their drill sites and to bring in their equipment and supplies; not roads. Nine of the drill sites are in the Conglomerate Mesa Area of Critical Environmental Concern which is an area the BLM manages to protect the natural resources of the area. Roads into this area along with drill pads will damage many plants with special or protected statuses. Meet the animals that live at Conglomerate Mesa. They will be collateral damage because of this exploratory drilling project.
Sign up for the Conglomerate Mesa newsletter and receive updates and information on rallies, Gold 101 presentations, and more, here. |
Groundwater Sustainability Authority Covering Fish Slough
|
| This project is moving along as fast as it can be moved along and good progress has been made. Last year the Tri-Valley Groundwater Management District became the Groundwater Sustainability Authority over Fish Slough. The TVGMD has secured an IRWMP grant through Mono County to hire a hydrologist who will create a model of the groundwater flow through the Tri-Valley and Fish Slough. Fish Slough has been drying up over the last 20 years and lost its main spring in last year's drought. A hydrological model will help the District manage groundwater pumping in the area and better understand if and how it impacts Fish Slough. California's Department of Water Resources has arranged funding for the USGS to put in two monitoring wells in the area to provide more data for the hydrological model and they will be conducting an AEM (Airborne Electromagnetic) survey of the Owens Basin in October, including the Tri-Valley, to help define the rock layers and structure and aquifer capacity of the basin. This will also contribute more data for the hydrological model. |
Every Last Drop and the First WEF Tour in the Eastern Sierra!
|
Subscribe to the Keep Long Valley Green newsletter called Every Last Drop and get an environmental view of LADWP's activities in the Eastern Sierra. The July and August issues were a photo journal of Long Valley and its wildflowers. The September issue is coming soon.
The Water Education Foundation put on their first water tour of the Eastern Sierra Sept 12-15. It started at Truckee Meadows and ended at the Owens Lake. One of the stops was at Long Valley where participants learned the Range of Light Group's perspective on the environmental harms that would come from ending irrigation in Long Valley. Little Round Valley, the charming meadow to the south of Long Valley would also be affected. |
Fall Highway Cleanup and Treasures
|
A big thank you to everyone who came out and helped us cleanup our section of the Highway 395 Adopt-A-Highway last Sunday, 9/23.
The ear bud was the best trash find this time. (Although I think it was broken). Here's what else was found in usable condition along with a metal water bottle with only a small dent in it (not shown). It got lost in the trash before I took the photo. |
|
Nymph Forms of Cactus Bugs
|
| Busy Cactus Coreid bugs (adult and immature, nymph forms) in the cottontop cactus at Talc City, Inyo County by Lynn Boulton |
|
Ladybugs Have Nymph Forms Too
|
Did you know that ladybugs go through metamorphose phases before they become ladybugs as we know them? I just discovered this during the September Mono Basin CA Diversity Bioblitz. A bioblitz is where citizens can take photos of various forms of nature (plants, animals, fungi, scat, etc.) and enter them into iNaturalist. While taking photos, I came across a cluster of Rubber Rabbitbrush shrubs with different bugs on them, hiding from the rain. I thought I had several different species. Great! More biodiversity! I was surprised when I entered them into iNaturalist and it Identified all of them as Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens)!
They were just different phases. Their life cycle starts with eggs, hatches as a larva, changes to a pupa, and finally becomes a ladybug. Young ladybugs don't have all their spots. I didn't see any eggs, but some ladybugs were working on that!
by Lynn Boulton (photos also by Lynn) |
|
If you would like to help us protect the environment, contact us. We'd love to have your help and input! Thank you!
|
Support Local Environmental Activism
Everything you read here requires money to support the activists, staff, and tools that make our work possible every day.
Your support can make a difference!
All funds stay here in Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and the Eastern Sierra
to support local community activists.
Thank you!
|
Join the Sierra Club
Thanks for reading. Become an environmental champion by becoming a member! The Sierra Club is the largest, most enduring grassroots environmental organization in the nation. Your membership makes us stronger!
|
Volunteer Today!
Our success in everything we do depends on volunteers like you. Frustrated with the world? Then #showup and make a difference! |
|
Serving Inyo and Mono Counties
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
