We knew 2025 was going to be a challenging year, and it lived up to that expectation. We’ve faced attempted public land selloffs, rollbacks of bedrock laws and regulations, federal staff reductions, funding cuts, and a federal government shutdown. Despite bipartisan support, this administration won’t stop attacking public lands. We must stand together to support them, here in the Eastern Sierra and across the United States. Your donation today will help us protect public lands and water and make 2026 a year of stronger, united action. With the help of your generous support in 2025, FOI has stood strong for public lands.
In the face of these challenges, Friends of the Inyo worked to protect and care for the land and water of the Eastern Sierra. With the help of your generous support, in 2025 FOI has:
Accomplishments: Stewardship
Again in 2025, our 5 seasonal staff of Trail Ambassadors served every National Forest Ranger District from Mt. Whitney to Bridgeport. Stewardship is always stronger with friends. We collaborated with longtime partners like Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Sierra Forever, and the June Lake Trails Committee on events including the Great Sierra River Clean-Up, SnowSchool, and June Lake Trails Day. The 2025 season was also remarkable for new partnerships. For the first time, we teamed up with the Bishop Area Climbers Coalition, the Bishop Climbing Rangers, and the Whitebark Institute on stewardship events we’re excited to grow and build on in the years ahead. Our FOI Trail Ambassadors:
- Led naturalist programs for over 500 participants.
- Monitored and maintained 500 miles of trails, including removal of 145 logs.
- Carried 3,000 lbs of trash out of favorite front and backcountry areas.
- Educated 4,692 visitors on the 7 principles of Leave No Trace.
- Engaged 255 volunteers delivering 1,237.5 hours of service valued at $43,052.65.
- Replaced 60 feet of dangerously dilapidated boardwalk along Rock Creek Trail.
- Organized and led two Multi-Day Backcountry Volunteer Weeks. Our team and volunteers restored meadow streams and removed obsolete cattle fencing in hard-to-reach wilderness areas.
- Pst! You’re the first to hear the sneak peak that we have a special new volunteer program coming to Mt. Whitney! Stay tuned for details!
Accomplishments: Advocacy
In 2025, FOI continued its important work of protecting the ecosystems and species of our local lands. We continued to expand our work into the protection of our water, and engaged strongly in national efforts to protect our public lands from selloff and to support adequate funding and staffing to manage them well. Some notable accomplishments include:
- California Public Lands Defense Leadership. As an active leader in the California Public Lands Defense group, FOI helps guide strategy, coordinates campaigns, and ensures Eastern Sierra perspectives are represented at the state level. FOI meets directly with elected officials to advocate for well funded land management agencies, responsible policies, and on-the-ground solutions. Through action alerts, educational events, postcard drives, and social media outreach, FOI is activating a growing network of constituents who speak up for public lands.
- Opposition to Public Lands Selloff and Rollback of Environmental Protections. FOI organized your influence to show US Representative Kevin Kiley that the people of CA Congressional District 3, which includes Inyo and Mono Counties, do not believe that our public lands are for sale. Your letters, phone calls, and social media messages to Rep. Kiley persuaded him to stand up for his constituents and speak against the selloff. FOI has also been pushing back against proposed rollbacks of critical environmental protections, such as the Roadless Rule and the Public Lands Rule, that heavily impact the Eastern Sierra.
- Water Education. This year, we also kicked off a new water education campaign and welcomed two new staff members, Charlene Buff and Emily Ontiveros, as Water Empowerment Organizers. Revealing Payahuunadü, a collaborative effort between Friends of the Inyo, the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, and Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles, is a program intended to share information on the impacts of water extraction in Inyo and Mono Counties and help the community envision a healthier future for people and the land.
Further, in partnership with the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission and Great Basin Water Network, we evolved the Great Basin Water Justice Summit into a monthly virtual series, free to the public, for fireside chats on Eastern Sierra water issues. Register for January’s online session HERE. Watch a reply of the last session HERE.
- Water Justice and Advocacy. We could not be prouder of the hundreds of people that we organized to speak up for our water at Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) meetings this year. We organized this turnout as a core member of the Eastern Sierra Water Alliance, working in partnership with the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, the Sierra Club Range of Light Group, and many dedicated community members. Folks came out, both locally and in Los Angeles, to advocate for a decrease in water extraction, changes to LADWP practices to improve the health of our lands and waters, and increased transparency and opportunities for more meaningful participation in decision making. As a result of our participation, the agency decreased its water extraction planned for the 2025-2026 runoff year, abandoned its intent to declare many incomplete mitigation projects “finished”, and pledged to put the Eastern Sierra “on the list” to benefit from reductions in its importation as more recycled water becomes available.
- Conglomerate Mesa. FOI continues to defend this pristine desert gem in southern Inyo County from industrial mining projects. In 2025, our efforts included organizing a public demonstration and unprecedented attendance at a June public meeting in Lone Pine to oppose the latest destructive initiative. As a result, the mining company abandoned its request to build roads. Again, the Mesa is safe from significant harm, for now, but our fight continues.
- Payahuunadü Tribal Summit. In 2025, we dove deeper into some of our most important relationships, those with Indigenous collaborators. In partnership with the Indigenous Futures Society, FOI’s Indigenous Community Relations Coordinator, Joseph Miller, led the organization of the first-ever Payahuunadü Tribal Summit. This event brought together tribal members from Payahuunadü and beyond to discuss land health and protection, tribal beneficial uses, threats, and solutions, and to create a space for collaboration and coalition building.
- Bodie Hills. In the Bodie Hills, we worked with many partners, including the Four Tribes Alliance, to assist in their efforts to protect against gold mining projects and secure permanent protections for the area. We provided support for Tribal youth trainings, on-the-ground data collection, and pinyon pine health surveys. We received an award for our leadership in fostering collaboration in the Bodie Hills and beyond as part of the Pinyon Community Climate Action (PiCCA) Network.
2026 Challenges
We anticipate a challenging year in 2026. Some of the stewardship, land and water defense and protection issues we know we will face include:
- Hiring freezes, standing vacancies, and budget cuts for the National Forest, BLM, and National Park Service mean these land managers will look to local groups like Friends of the Inyo to provide more support and education in 2026.
- Extractive industries will be incentivized on federal public lands. We believe it is likely that destructive mining projects, such as the one proposed for Conglomerate Mesa, will move forward quickly under streamlined processes. We are already seeing an increase in mining proposals in the Bodie Hills.
- We anticipate attacks on public lands will continue, including more selloff attempts and the further weakening of laws and regulations that protect the health of the lands and the species that call them home. This administration views public lands as having no other value but exploitation.
- We anticipate that the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power will continue to search for ways to increase extraction and avoid fulfilling its obligations to our ecosystems.
As 2025 draws to a close, we ask you to make your most generous gift possible. Your year-end donation will help:
- Keep Trail Ambassadors on the ground protecting and educating the public
- Fund the legal and advocacy work to fight destructive mining and land selloffs
- Support our water defense efforts and tribal partnerships
- Ensure FOI can help fill the gaps left by federal agency cutbacks
- Build the coalition we need to face 2026's challenges together
As we look toward our 40th anniversary in 2026, we’re reminded that our strongest victories come when we stand together. In 2025, with more staff members than ever before, we helped amplify your voices united for these public lands. This administration may try to divide us, but we are resilient, determined, and capable of protecting the public lands and wildlife we all cherish.
As the year draws to a close, please consider making a generous year-end donation to help us stay united and continue defending our public lands amid these unprecedented attacks. While no donation is too small, the best way to support Friends of the Inyo is by becoming a member, or renewing your membership! Donate $35 per year or $5 per month to ensure your membership is always up to date. You'll enjoy such benefits as receiving our Juniper Monthly E-Newsletter, Action and Event Alerts, and our Jeffrey Pine Journal, a handsome, 24-page magazine published in Spring and Fall, FREE. You'll also get members-first rights to buy tickets to our Owens Lake Bird Festival and other special occasions. Donate on behalf of yourself, or in honor or memory of a loved one. Your donation is a great way to help sustain our mission: To protect and care for the land and water of the Eastern Sierra.
THANK YOU for Giving to Eastern Sierra Protection and Stewardship through Friends of the Inyo!
