Welcome to the Bishop Paiute Tribe Environmental Management Office

“Preserving the beauty of our aboriginal homelands”

  • The mission of EMO is to promote environmental stewardship through proactive approaches and solutions by sustaining our natural resources, protecting public safety, and providing public awareness through education, collaboration and policy.

    EMO was established in 1996 by Alan Spoonhunter, and has served the Bishop Paiute Reservation, and neighboring communities for over 2 decades. Alan Spoonhunter (1949 - 2006) is remembered as a community leader who helped start many Tribal programs, and we remember him as being generous with his time and thoughtful with his advice.

    We welcome you to browse the programs, activities, and services of the EMO using the tabs above.

  • Currently, EMO has three main programs: Air Quality, Natural Resources, and the Water Quality Control Program.

  • Check out our monthly newsletters and follow EMO on social media in order to stay up to date on our work.

    Click here to view our Instagram.

    Click here to view our Facebook.

Meet the EMO Team

Contact

If you would like to contact an EMO staff member, please call (760) 873-3584 + EXT.

Thomas Gustie III

Environmental Director & Natural Resources Coordinator, EXT 2130

Emma Ruppell

Air Quality & Meteorology Specialist, EXT 2110

Brianda Hernandez

Water Quality Control Program Coordinator, EXT 2120

Sabrina Barlow

Water Quality Specialist, EXT 2160

Jared Hess

Water Quality Technician

James Denver

Natural Resources Program Technician

George Helms

Hazardous Fuels Reduction Foreman

Harry Andreas

Hazardous Fuels Reduction Crewmember

Maggie Flaherty

Recreation Outreach and Planning Coordinator

Sage Neely

COSA Community Outreach Coordinator & SNAP AmeriCorps Member, EXT 2190

Miles Lafayette

Tribal Conservation Corps (TCC) Foreman

TEPA Board Members

Sky Vasquez - TEPA Board Chair

Rick Napoles - TEPA Vice Board Chair

Anna Hohag - TEPA Board Member

Noah Williams - TEPA Board Member

Upcoming Events

Check out the EMO events calendar! Events include educational and stewardship events hosted by each program as well as our annual Earth Day celebration. To learn about events held by other Bishop Paiute Tribal departments and programs please visit the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Facebook Page.

Earth Day Celebration

Earth Day is a solid tradition at EMO. Every year in April, EMO and the Owens Valley Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center partner up to host a (mostly) outdoor event and gathering, crafts market, and a roadside trash pick-up event. Participants clean up target areas on the Reservation in groups, families, or solo, contributing to a waste stream sorting and weighing effort with EMO staff, and receive breakfast and freebie for their efforts.

The event includes arts and crafts, kids games and activities, games such as Chuptuhii, live music, demos and information from our Earth Day partner booths, a raffle, and of course food and refreshments.

If you would like to read about our Earth Day 2024 event please click here.

EMO Newsletters

Each month, EMO contributes a few pages to the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s newsletter. Click on the buttons below to view the EMO articles for the month. If you would like to view the Tribe’s entire newsletter for the month please visit this webpage. If you would like to view EMO’s Newsletter Archive, featuring newsletter from December 2023-December 2024, please click here.