Mission

Examine large-scale proposed gold mines in the Bodie Hills with the Four Tribes Alliance working to protect their cultural homelands.

Soaring above the Bodie Hills, the beauty of the range is clear. Beloved for its rich wildlife and recreational opportunities, the Bodie Hills are located between Bridgeport, a small ranching community in eastern California, and the Great Basin in western Nevada. It is the homeland of Indigenous peoples from the Four Tribes Alliance, and serves as a transitional zone between the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin, providing unique habitat and rich biodiversity. The Bodie Hills contain small wetland meadows, aspen groves, alpine lakes, ephemeral wetlands, and rounded volcanic mountains. Tuvogatudu, is a high volcanic plateau at the north end of the Bodie Hills, and has long provided refuge to Native peoples, a water source and an abundance of plant and animal life.

Hard-rock mining continues to greatly threaten the Bodie Hills. It’s estimated that over 200 active mining claims remain and in the recent years, proposals for large-scale gold mining and exploration pose extreme threats to the ample cultural heritage and ecological importance of this zone.

This is a cultural landscape of great significance, a critical refuge for the bi-state sage grouse and the migration route for the isolated pronghorn herd and two mule deer herds. This proposed Four Tribes Alliance is working for better management of this significant landscape, and their cultural homelands. The Tribes are advocating fro increased protections from the threats of mining and Tribal co-management to safeguard the values of the Bodie Hills.

Click for photos from the flights and EcoFlight’s Bodie Hills photo collection