Buttermilk Road Project Complete

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Buttermilk Road Project Complete 

Buttermilk Road is back open after a cooperative, interagency project last week to improve safe recreation and help  restore vegetation that has been damaged over time by vehicles.

The road to the popular recreation area was closed August 23 so that crews from the Inyo County Road Department,  Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Northern District Construction, and the Inyo National Forest Engineering  division could strategically place boulders to delineate parking areas and along the road’s edges to prevent further  resource damage and ensure environmental protection measures. Buttermilk Road wasn’t expected to be reopened  until August 30, however the diligent work of crews allowed the road to be reopened two days earlier, on August 28.

The Inyo National Forest cautions against moving these boulders, and or parking or driving on vegetation to get  around the boulders. According to the agency, driving off designated routes and on vegetation in the forest is  prohibited by 36 Code of Federal Regulations 261.13 and 261.15(h).

The project was part of the Buttermilk Infrastructure and Recreation Planning Initiative launched by the Eastern Sierra  Council of Governments (Inyo and Mono counties, the City of Bishop, and Town of Mammoth Lakes), and was a joint  endeavor of Inyo County, Inyo National Forest, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Work was  performed through in-kind labor and support from all three agencies.

“I again want to thank our Public Works team, as well as our partner agencies,” said Inyo County CAO Nate  Greenberg. “With everyone’s cooperation and attention to the matter, we were able to find a creative solution to the  vegetation issue and complete the project quickly – and ahead of the typically busy climbing season. Inyo County  really appreciates the team effort and looks forward to more of this kind of collaboration in the future.”

News Staff