© Bill Dunlap It's the time of year when many animals that call the Eastern Sierra their home are preparing for a long journey. When food and shelter become scarce in the winter, most migrate to warmer areas often at lower elevations. The local Round Valley mule deer herd is no exception. Twice each year, the Round Valley mule deer herd embarks on a particularly risky migration journey. These deer …continue reading
Join us for an informative field trip to the Round Valley mule deer herds migration corridor. Biologist Tim Taylor with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will share updates on some of the challenges the deer are facing as we explore the beautiful Round Valley migration area. ~~ This is a free family-friendly event. Please leave your canine friends at home. Binoculars are recommended but not required, and please remember to …continue reading
The Hunewill family is one of many in the Eastern Sierra who have been ranching for multiple generations. Families like these keep our region wide open so mule deer, pronghorn, and sage-grouse thrive. Photo by Dwayne Leonard, Ranch Memories Photography. by Kay Ogden, ESLT Executive Director I just couldn't believe the majestic and crazy landscape that was unfolding before me as I rode my bike from Los Angeles to Mono …continue reading
Twin Pronghorn Fawns, by Tom Koerner, USFWS Bodie State Historic Park is one of the most scenic places in Mono County, where Eastern Sierra Land Trust does much of our land conservation work. And that's saying something, in a county as full of beautiful places as Mono County. The ghost town of Bodie at dawn is suffused with golden light on the wooden buildings, and the dusty green sagebrush steppe …continue reading
© Steve Yeager "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." -John Muir As fall settles in the Eastern Sierra, we humans are making the change from hiking at high elevations and jumping in alpine lakes, to bundling up in sweaters and jackets and enjoying fall colors. Meanwhile, other animals are also responding to the seasonal change in temperature …continue reading
Come join Eastern Sierra Land Trust and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a post-wildfire wildlife habitat restoration volunteer day! We'll be planting native seedlings to help jump start nature's recovery in crucial sage-grouse and mule deer wintering areas in the Long Valley area. We'll meet either at the Green Church on Benton Crossing Road in Long Valley at 9:30 a.m., or at the BLM Field Office on Pacu Lane at 9:00 …continue reading
Photo by Bob Wick, BLM. Would you like to be a part of our conservation success stories? At the bottom of this article, you can read about an opportunity to volunteer with us next month as we care for Bi-State sage-grouse habitat. Bi-State sage-grouse on the border of California and Nevada are a genetically distinct population of sage-grouse, and are a loved species here in the Eastern Sierra. But due …continue reading
A treacherous corridor. A missing puzzle piece. A shared solution. Mule deer migrate through the Swall Meadows Wildlife Area twice every year. Imagine that the year is 1999, and you just moved to a new home in Swall Meadows. Every day out your window, you begin to see the same thing. Mule deer! A lot of mule deer. This experience led community members to the discovery that homes lay in …continue reading
Come celebrate International Migratory Bird Day with ESLT and the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society! International Migratory Bird Day is May 11th and to celebrate, we will be hosting a day of bird spotting and a walk-about at our beautiful . Come spend the morning alongside the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society's experts as we all view the many local and migratory species that call this unique alkali lake home. All birding levels are …continue reading
Each and every year, a mule deer doe teaches her fawns to make the long journey from their winter range on the valley floor to their summer range in the High Sierra meadows and then back again in the cooler season. You might not know that the journey they take each year through the Eastern Sierra is not instinctual. Wildlife biologists' research has documented that migration patterns are learned behavior; the doe …continue reading