Examine the threats facing Bodie Hills and Walker Basin, and discuss with conservation partners the efforts to preserve and restore the region.

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 including the Mono Tribe and Paiute people, and servers as a transitional zone between the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin, providing unique habitat for rich biodiversity. The Bodie Hills contain small wet meadows, aspen groves, alpine lakes, ephemeral wetlands, and rounded volcanic mountains.

These public lands and their wildlife and recreational values are threatened by industrial scale mining. Our partners are working to protect the Bodie Hills from gold mining and industrial development, and to create a sustainable future that promotes conservation and recreational access.

We also flew the neighboring Walker Basin and Walker Lake, which are highly threatened by over-consumption of water. The lake's volume has declined by 90% and shrunk by 50%. Our partners are leading the effort to save and restore Walker Lake by conserving land and water in the Basin. Walker Basin Conservancy and Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership are converting prior agricultural land back to native vegetation and are purchasing water rights and land from willing sellers to restore the lake, its fisheries, and its migratory birds.

This collective action is critical to protect the Bodie Hills and Walker River Basin's remote, wild character and its many historic, scenic, recreational, and ecological benefits.