Stewardship

Facelift Eastside

The Eastern Sierra 4X4 Club participates in Facelift Eastside

On Thursday, October 15th, the Eastern Sierra 4X4 Club participated in a stewardship project called Facelift Eastside. Twelve members of the club spent the morning picking up 3/4 of a ton of trash and litter in the Polita area and other spots along the base of the White Mountains. Everyone worked hard until the thick smoke started moving in.
So, what is this Facelift thing all about? First a little history.
in 2004, the Yosemite Climbing Association organized “The Yosemite Facelift” as an annual volunteer event to encourage visitors to clean up the park at the end of the busy summer season. This is the single largest organized volunteer clean up in any National Park. For 2020, the traditional event in Yosemite did not happen due to COVID-19. This year, Facelift, wants local volunteers to pick up trash closer to home.

This stewardship practiced in Yosemite is just as important throughout the Eastern Sierra and our gateway communities. This year Facelift has spilled over the mountains and around the corner to our neck of the woods as Facelift Eastside.
Facelift Eastside was promoted by Mammoth Lakes Tourism as an “Act Local” concept. They asked volunteers to safely pick up litter and engage in service projects around their local communities, parks, and public land, while following local guidelines for social distancing and minimizing the risk of spreading COVID-19
Earlier this month Martha Cruz, the Inyo National Forest volunteer coordinator, contacted The Eastern Sierra 4X4 Club and asked the group to participate in this event. In response, members of the club spent several days inspecting some local areas that are heavily used by the OHV community and found them to be pretty darn clean, but found a mess along the base of the White Mountains east of Bishop.
The consensus of the 4X4 group was that it was a great thing to be part of the effort to clean up the land that we all love and enjoy recreating in.