Volume 10 - December 2023
We have renamed our newsletter to reflect our commitment to protecting the lands surrounding Conglomerate Mesa, from the Inyo Mountains to the Coso Mountains. Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting Inyo to Coso. Visit our website for more information or sign up here to receive future newsletters.
Conglomerate Mesa Mining Update
By Jaime Lopez Wolters, Desert Lands Organizer, Friends of the Inyo
In our last "Extra" edition of Inyo to Coso we alerted you to the opening of the 60-day comment period for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process regarding K2 Gold's application for a second phase of exploratory drilling on Conglomerate Mesa.
Many of you took the opportunity to comment during the scoping phase and make your voice heard for the Mesa, and we thank you for your participation! There will be a second comment period when the draft EIS is publicly shared in the first half of 2024. We will keep you posted, and we encourage you all to speak up for Conglomerate Mesa again at that time!
In the meantime, there have been some developments we want to share with you:
- The BLM has informed us that the 23,000 comments provided during the earlier Environmental Assessment (EA) will be carried over and considered in preparing the draft EIS. This is great news! Everyone who spoke out against the project then, deserves to be heard, and now, it seems, the BLM agrees.
- The BLM and Inyo County have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding Mojave Precious Metals’ Exploratory Drilling. In this newsletter, learn more about the Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting where the signing took place, and see who came to support Conglomerate Mesa.
What’s next:
- The BLM is reviewing the comments provided by the public, environmental organizations and cooperating agencies during the scoping period.
- Following its review of public comments, the BLM will then write a draft EIS, which will include a list of alternative actions as well as the BLM's preferred alternative.
- There will be a second comment period in the first half of 2024, when the public can weigh in on the draft document and the alternatives presented.
As stated above, we will keep you informed as this EIS progresses and alert you when the next comment period opens!
Gateway to the Past
by Joseph Miller, Indigenous Community Relations Coordinator, Friends of the Inyo
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Just south of Lone Pine lies Highway 136, one of the many gateways to Death Valley and a very special place for travelers now and since man has inhabited these lands. This area is graced with unique landscapes such as Centennial Flat with its spanning Joshua Tree forests or Conglomerate Mesa, jutting up from the foothills, speckled with pinyon pine groves.
The terrain can be as simple or as breathtaking as the scenery and anywhere you travel in this area you can stumble upon anything from Permian fossils dating back 250 million years to the elusive and endangered Inyo Rock Daisy, which recently received a threatened species classification from the CA Fish and Game Commission.
Although these areas are cherished by the outdoor community and are brimming with rare, beautiful desert life, what do we really know about the cultural history of Conglomerate Mesa area and the surrounding Death Valley portal?
Since time immemorial, The Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone and Timbisha Shoshone Tribes have inhabited this land and called it their home. Prior to settlers migrating to the greater surrounding regions, the Owens Valley and mountains around it supported some of the highest Indigenous population densities found in the ethnographic Great Basin. More recent ancestral ties to the gateway area stretch back for generations, for uses such as hunting and ceremony.
As a local Indigenous person whose work has centered greatly around understanding this area, the more I see it and visit it, the more intimate I feel with it. Lately I have been asking myself a question: Who are these individuals and families that once hunted, gathered and traveled throughout the territory that now surrounds what we call the Death Valley Gateway and what did life look like for them?
OWENS VALLEY PAIUTE
These native first inhabitants once roamed and stewarded the Owens Valley, or, as they call it, “Payahunadu,” the land where water flows. The word itself, in Paiute, is an ethnographic term that, translated, means “True Ute” or “Water Ute.” We often use the name Paiute but more recently refer to ourselves by our traditional name “Numu” or as it is translated “people.” The homelands of the Owens Valley Paiute are located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, spanning from the Long Valley Caldera to the Owens Lake, “Patsiata,” and from the crest of the Sierras to the White and Inyo Mountains.
Traditionally, on the eastern shores of Patsiata, ducks and rabbits were hunted and brine fly larvae were harvested. Small birds and game were exploited regularly, with occasional deer being harvested. As such, it would not be an uncommon sight to see local native people on the shores of Patsiata dressed in their traditional garb of breech coverings and blankets fashioned from strips of rabbit hide.
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The Indigenous people of the valley settled in fixed villages along rivers or springs, living in huts or “Toni” crafted from birch limbs and covered in tule reeds. They were skilled in crafting tools and creating lodging from the natural materials around them. Through their existence in the high desert, the Paiute people of Payahunadu were proficient in surviving off the land, which they lived with symbiotically for over a thousand years.
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TIMBISHA SHOSHONE
The Timbisha Shoshone were the first people to inhabit the Death Valley region before settlers arrived in search of gold and other minerals. The name "Shoshone" comes from Sosoni, a Shoshone word for high-growing grasses, of which they constructed their homes. Though most Shoshoni people use the Numic term Newe to refer to themselves, Timbisha people use the same word as their Paiute neighbors, Numu. Their traditional territory covers the vast expanse of Death Valley, encompassed by the Panamint and Amargosa mountain ranges, stretching from eastern California into Nevada.
A people forged in the harsh environment of the desert, they were capable of adapting and surviving in some of the most desolate and unfavorable conditions in the U.S. They harbored traditional ecological knowledge on where water sources could be located and where edible plants existed. They were familiar with the game trails and habits of the wildlife they hunted, such as bighorn sheep or rabbits.
The Timbisha people strategically set up their camps at dispersed springs or waters. Summer camps were built in the surrounding mountain ranges to escape the heat. Collecting raw materials found in the desert and mountains, they fashioned the tools to survive in the difficult environment that is Death Valley. Theirs was a life of subsistence and simplicity, taking only what they needed, while living with nature.
THE SPACE BETWEEN
The area from the east shoreline of Owens Lake stretching out into the Inyo Mountains through the Death Valley portal is home to significant cultural resources such as game bird hunting areas, as well as pinyon nut and medicinal plant gathering sites. In the summer months, both Paiute people from the Lone Pine area and Timbisha people would trek into the Inyo, Argus and Panamint mountain ranges in search of pine nuts and relief from extreme summer heat. Conglomerate Mesa, endowed with an ample amount of pinyon trees around its base would have more than likely been home to some of these fall collection camps.
Lodging in the mountains would have probably been made in the form of a wikiup. This simple dwelling would be made by stacking heavy branches in a tent or lean-to style, coating the branches with lighter boughs. Sometimes a layer of thin mud was applied and a second layer of light boughs were then placed atop the weatherproofing mud.
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Many items for living were previously stored the year before at the temporary sites. Items such as grinding rocks and long straight limbs for shaking or beating the pine nuts from the tree. One item that would make the journey up to the mountains and back, however, would be the burden basket. This large conical basket had two straps and was designed to be worn like a backpack. This essential tool would be the element that would transport the harvested pine nuts and other foods back down into the valleys to be eaten over the winter months.
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These were people who had a very natural familiarity with what the land could provide but assuredly had contingencies in unsuitable times. If the fall pine nut harvest was unsuccessful, other plant foods were immediately gathered and placed into winter stores.
Following their food sources where they grew (plants) and traveled (game) was key to the survival of the Numu; for that reason, some people often refer to their semi-annual dispersed living habits as nomadic or primitive, but that is far from the whole story. These very talented individuals took the limited technology nature had provided, utilized it to its maximum potential, harvested everything they needed from seasonably traveled or managed territories, and ultimately departed comfortably while leaving those ecosystems in as good a state or better than they found them.
STILL CALLED HOME
As we face the never-ending and accelerating threat of resource extraction in this country, local places of natural, historical and cultural importance, like Conglomerate Mesa, are being targeted for commercial use. I do not oppose commerce and economic growth, but it is most important that we not forget the people and history of these places. It is also equally as important to know that these Tribes call this area their home today. Families still use the Mesa for recreation, hunting and culturally significant Tribal traditions, like the gathering of pinyon nuts to use as medicine and food. Tribal members are stewards of the Mesa’s wildlands and vocal advocates for Conglomerate Mesa’s protection.
My culture and connection to the land have always been very intimate and personal subjects for me. My grandfather was a Paiute man from Fish Lake Valley, and my grandmother a Shoshone woman from Furnace Creek. These lands that form the gateway to Death Valley are a special place for reasons that I am just recently discovering. Teaching future generations about the history of this place and how to live with it offers a far more prosperous future than the boom-and-bust tale of greed, destruction and loss associated with large scale mineral extraction.
Recent Events
Conglomerate Mesa
Western Joshua Tree Survey
October 21-23, 2023
The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, which was recently passed by the California Legislature, provides new protections for this iconic species.
Armed with this new tool, the Conglomerate Mesa Coalition has set out to document all the Joshua trees in the vicinity of Mojave Precious Metals’ planned road construction and drill sites, as laid out in their Phase 2 Plan of Operations.
California Permanently Protects Imperiled Wildflower Threatened by Gold Mining
On October 11th, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to permanently protect Inyo rock daisies as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act.
“This vote is a huge victory for these special wildflowers,” said botanist Maria Jesus, whose field surveys document the plant’s current range. “With the threat of a massive gold mine looming on the horizon, this rare daisy now has help from the state of California to prevent it from sliding into extinction.”
Speaking up for Conglomerate Mesa!
A big shout-out to everyone who showed up and spoke at the Inyo County Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday, November 28th!!!
Conglomerate Mesa and Mojave Precious Metals' exploratory drilling project was on the agenda, with the Bureau of Land Management asking Inyo County to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enable them to cooperate during the Environmental Impact Statement process.
Lovers of Conglomerate Mesa spoke eloquently and passionately about the need to protect this vulnerable desert landscape. Many asked the county to take a strong stance against K2 Gold's mining proposal.
"Island in the Sky" Film and Panel Discussion
On October 4th, the Conglomerate Mesa Coalition hosted a free virtual screening and panel discussion of the film "Island in the Sky". This film looks at the impacts of gold mining on Conglomerate Mesa and takes a look at K2 Gold's most recent proposal. It was followed by a lively conversation with our panelists:
- Kathy Jefferson Bancroft, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe
- Mike Prather, Lone Pine resident. Sierra Club desert activist, Audubon Owens Lake wildlife advocate.
- Wendy Schneider, Executive Director, Friends of the Inyo
- Kris Hohag, Indigenous Activist/Senior Field Organizer, Sierra Club
- Tom Budlong, Activist
Our "Protect" Rally on Labor Day, Monday, September 4th, at Spainhower Park in Lone Pine was a great success! More than 50 people came out to stand in solidarity with Conglomerate Mesa and spread the message to thousands of people driving by on Main Street. Many thanks to all who came!