Environment

THE JMT WILDERNESS CONSERVANCY (JMT Wild) will officially break ground this fall on a vital, high-elevation meadow and riparian terrain restoration project in Reds Meadow Valley, west of Mammoth Lakes. The groundbreaking this September will launch a four-year effort to restore the ecological health of two large meadows and four recreation sites located along six miles of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River. These ancestral lands of the North Fork Mono and Bishop Paiute Tribes are a gateway to iconic landscapes along the John Muir Trail (est. 1915) and the high Sierra Nevada. The public and media are invited to attend a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 1:00 PM PST at Agnew Meadows Campground. Remarks will be made by leadership from JMT Wild, Inyo National Forest, the California Natural Resources Agency, and project partners. Tribal Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe will offer a sage smoke blessing and ritual, along with a traditional invocation to the Ancestors and Creator for permission to enter these lands. Work on the Reds Meadow Valley project has already begun with three years of extensive design and modeling of treatments, and this summer, with the installation of …