Friends of the Inyo

My name is Aaron, and this spring I will be riding the Tour de Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada, in support of Friends of the Inyo. Growing up in the Owens Valley in California's Eastern Sierra was a special experience, and being surrounded by such a unique and beautiful landscape greatly shaped the person I am today. The area faces many challenges from entities that could harm the landscape the the life within it-- wild and otherwise-- and Friends of the Inyo has served to advocate for the areas within Inyo and Mono Counties to protect the landscape.

Although I moved away from the Owens Valley a few years ago I still consider it home, and when I was asked by my cycling team to choose an organization to support I knew Friends of the Inyo was the right choice. Any support you can give to me and the cause of Friends of the Inyo would be greatly appreciated!

Friends of the Inyo is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and caring for the land of the Eastern Sierra. We are reaching out from Friends of the Inyo with a GoFundMe campaign to support our 2024 trail stewardship work. We are restoring a section of boardwalk on the Upper Rock Creek Trail in the Inyo National Forest. We need to raise $15,000 to tackle the remaining sections of the Upper Rock Creek Trail that were damaged and left in a dangerous condition by runoff in recent years. In August 2024, Friends of the Inyo finished a new section of boardwalk on the Upper Rock Creek Lake trail. It took 13 people ALL day on August 10th to dismantle the old rotten section, haul in the new material and get it assembled. Huge shoutout to the volunteers that took the day to help! This 80ft section alone cost almost $15,000 in materials. Please help us reach our goal so we can tackle additional sections.

In addition to working on the Rock Creek lake boardwalk, this season FOI staff and volunteers have also dismantled over 3,000 lbs of defunct structures in the Golden Trout Wilderness. This photo shows our group of volunteers, folks from the Forest Service, our FOI Trail Ambassadors, and our two K9 mascots that hiked out to Tunnel Meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness to help dismantle defunct grazing fence that is dangerous to wildlife. We took down over 3,000 pounds of barbed wire, electric fence, and posts to keep wildlife safe and make the views even prettier.

Your contributions are tax-deductible as allowable by law. Thank you for helping to steward this beautiful land!