Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Mining in the Bodie Hills
Visitors driving along the scenic 395 highway are hardly thinking of the Eastern Sierra Nevada’s hidden and damaging exploratory projects. The jagged, loping granite peaks and starkly contrasting valleys are often enough of a spectacle themselves.
36% of visitors to Mammoth Lakes, CA are from Los Angeles, CA. Only 25% of these individuals travel to the town of Bridgeport/Bodie during months of warm weather while a mere 13% visit during cold weather. Death Valley, is visited by an even smaller 10% during cold months and 4% in warmer weather. Both the Bodie Hills, resting between Bridgeport and the Nevada border, and the Conglomerate Mesa, one mile northwest of Death Valley National Park, are subject to a variety of exploratory mining projects, generally well-hidden from the view of travelers.
Wait, we’re still mining in California? Yes. In fact, there are 19 states containing Federally-administered lands that allow for mining claims. Among those states is California and Nevada.
What are we mining for? Gold. Why gold? These companies are looking to acquire gold mainly for monetary benefit (to make money; gold is still considered the most reliable form of currency). Gold, aside from currency and jewelry, is also used in industrial, medical, and technical industries. But Headwater Gold tells you exactly what their intention is with their mining operations in the Bodie Hills: “minimize losses, maximize throughput,” or to make money for themselves and their investors in as small a timeframe as possible and using shortcuts to limit spending.
An image of the Bodie Hills looking roughly northwest in the direction of Bridgeport, the Eastern Sierra Nevadas and Stanislaus National Forest.
In the first carousel image, where the text, “The migration path of pronghorn…,” rests between two mountains, Bald Mountain, providing a pathway for various migratory travelers including pronghorn. Other animals in the area include mice, cottontails and jack rabbits, various types of birds including the bi-state, endangered sage grouse, coyotes, mountain lions, wild burros and mustangs, and bears. Multiple archeological artifacts related to local Indigenous tribes have been found throughout the region.
This Is Your Backyard
If you love the Eastern Sierra, this is your backyard. The Bodie Hills mining operations take place in California and Nevada, Humboldt-Toiyabe forest. Mountains will be leveled, open-pit mines will be etched into the ground where a mix of soil, metals, and toxic materials will be dumped during operations and eventually filled in with more soil. This not only irreparably harms and changes the landscape, creating man-made scars, but also contributes to pollution and leeching in the soil and water. The water from the Bodie Hills fills natural springs that wildlife rely on and eventually drains into both Mono Lake and the Owen’s River. According to a study published in *Frontiers in Forests and Global Change*, only 2–3% of Earth's land is ecologically intact.
The Effects of Mining
Habitat disruption/destruction
Soil erosion
Displacement of wildlife and their migratory patterns
Leeching/contamination of soil and water sources
Disruption of water flow patterns
Sound/noise, light, and dust pollution
Large, visible scars
High-wall collapses
What Can You Do?
Share this article on social media and with friends and family
Sign up for newsletters from the Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership, Friends of the Inyo, and the Sierra Club to stay up-to-date on operations. If you are able to donate or volunteer your time with them, it helps efforts tremendously.
Email the Mineral County Board of Commissioners and share why you think they shouldn’t allow mining in the Bodie Hills.
Email the Humboldt-Toiyabe USFS and BLM and share why you think they shouldn’t allow mining in the Bodie Hills.
Follow @yourlocalconservationist on Substack and Instagram to stay up to date on conservation projects in the Eastern Sierras.
Follow @thevanguard, a women-led newspaper on Substack that reports on local news.
