Natural Resources Projects & Programs
The Natural Resource Program manages many different programs and projects throughout the Bishop Paiute Reservation, often in partnerships with other local agencies and departments such as Tribal Public Works, Tribal Maintenance, Tribal Community Development, and other Environmental departments. Current and ongoing programs and projects include: Fuels Reduction, Solid Waste Abatement, Tuhidda (Deer), Mosquito Abatement, Noxious Weed Abatement and Wünüpü (Pinyon Pine). You can find more information about each program below.
Hazardous Fuels Reduction
Fuels reduction reduces the risk of catastrophic wildland fire in the community of the Bishop Paiute Tribe Reservation. Work that has been performed includes fuels reduction by creating defensible space around houses and tribal structures. Fuel breaks have also been created and maintained. It is in everyone’s best interest that residents have knowledge and can take action towards maintaining their homes' defensible space.
Defensible space assessments have been performed by the Tribe's Hazardous Fuels Reduction Crew. Assessments are broken down into 3 components: structure hazards, hazards within 50 feet and access (driveway) hazards. Hand thinning of shrubs and trees has been performed and mechanical treatment has been put into action by chipping branches and trimming tall grasses with weed eaters.
Click here for more information about preparing your home for wildfire from the National Fire Protection Association.
Bishop Paiute Tribe Fire Management Plan
Click here to view the Bishop Paiute Tribe Fire Management Plan. Click here to view the Inyo County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Solid Waste Abatement
Program Goals
Protect the health and safety of all people working and residing on the Bishop Paiute Reservation.
Prevent pollution from solid waste including contamination of ground and surface waters.
Support Tribal self determination/self sufficiency.
Ensure that solid waste removal is efficient, convenient and affordable to residents of the reservation.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe Reservation residents are served by the Inyo County Landfill and the Bishop Solid Waste Management Company. Preferred Septic Disposal and Bishop Waste are both private solid waste disposal companies. Both of these companies operate in accordance with the Inyo County Solid Waste Management plan. There is no landfill on the Bishop Reservation and, because the county landfill is located three miles from the reservation, it is unlikely that the Tribe will develop an on-reservation landfill. Projected waste disposal capacity of the Inyo County Landfill is estimated to be adequate through the year 2097.
A total of 600 plus generators currently exist on the Reservation based on the number of water and sewer connections, of which approximately 570 are residential and 30 are commercial. Residents use a number of trash disposal methods, including commercial disposal services that provide curbside pickup, transporting trash to the nearby county, and discarding materials at recycling centers.
Click here to access the Solid and Hazardous Waste Code.
The Code is intended to prohibit the illegal dumping, transportation, storage, and burning of solid waste and establish tribal law regarding acceptable, efficient cost-effective and legal methods of disposal waste generated within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation, or being dumped on the Reservation or affecting the Reservation from an outside source. It is not the intent of this Code to impose unnecessary restrictions on the cultural and customary practices of the people of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, but to assist community members in protecting the health and safety of our Community.
Click here to access the 2009 Bishop Paiute Tribe Environmental Management Office Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, an integral guidance for waste management planning supported by Tribal Council Resolution.
Click here to access the Trailer and Vehicle Abatement Program Form. Please fill this out if you would like to request that a vehicle be removed from your assignment.
Tuhidda Na Koinui-Ti Program - Deer Hunting
Applications for the California State Big Game Drawing are available April 15th through June 2nd. ALL Bishop Paiute Tribal Members are eligible to apply! Apply online, or at a local sporting goods store. A letter or printout of an unsuccessful drawing from the State Fish and Wildlife is one of the requirements to apply for the Tribal drawing.
Dates for 2025 drawing are TBD.
If you have any questions about the Tuhidda Program please contact Tom Gustie, Natural Resource Program Coordinator.
Click here to support the effort to promote hunters in Tribal households by filling out our survey.
Mosquito Abatement
Mosquitoes have long occupied the lands of the Bishop Paiute Reservation. When the Reservation was established in the 1930s, it was a wetter place than it is today. Many miles of underground drainage were required to dry the land to make it suitable for agriculture and housing. Historically, the Tribe has been largely reliant on the adjacent County of Inyo to perform mosquito control. Fogging was a regular practice to exterminate adult mosquitoes. Presently, wetlands located near the exterior boundary of the Reservation breed mosquitoes that cause a concern on and off the Reservation. Water from unmaintained ditches creates diversions that feed off-Reservation parcels and generate another category of mosquito habitat. Inyo County Mosquito Abatement Program personnel have maintained communication, providing the Tribe with technical assistance so the Tribe can monitor and treat their own areas.
Collaborations: The Bishop Paiute EMO has been working with the Inyo County Agriculture Commission to help control mosquito issues on the reservation.
Treatments: We treat the mosquito with a larva pesticide called VectoBac that only the mosquito larva and black flies will eat. Click here to read more about VectoBac.
Mosquito Monitoring: We check sub waters and irrigated fields and determine the best strategies to prevent mosquito breeding grounds.
Links
Click here to access the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California.
Click here to view the Owens Valley Mosquito Abatement Program.
Click here to learn about mosquito-borne diseases from the CA Department of Public Health.
Noxious Weed Abatement
This program serves the whole community by conserving native plants in our area and in particular, plants that have a cultural significance to the Bishop Paiute Tribe. We also work on the reduction of invasive, noxious weeds. The Reservation has several acres of these weeds that, left unchecked, run the risk of spreading throughout the reservation to create monocultures of weeds replacing existing native plants. Our department uses the principles of Integrated Weed Management (IWM), which include chemical, mechanical, biological, and cultural management methods to control and reduce the populations of several species of these weeds on the Reservation.
The two main goals of Noxious Weed Abatement are 1) to document, identify, treat (with multiple methods) and monitor noxious weed infestations on the Bishop Paiute Tribe Reservation and provide this data to the Eastern Sierra Weed Management Area (ESWMA) database and 2) to educate Tribal Members about noxious weeds via open houses and Tribal mailings.
Click here to learn more about weeds in Inyo county from the Eastern Sierra Weed Management Area.
Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) - INVASIVE
Wünüpü (Pinyon Pine)
Wünüpü (pinyon pines) are one of many culturally significant and sacred trees to the Paiute people. Tüba (pine nuts) are a traditional food source that still play a significant role in Paiute culture today. Because of this significance, EMO works to steward pinyon-juniper woodlands in a variety of different ways.
Pinyon Cleaning
One facet of EMO pinyon stewardship involves a collaboration with the Inyo National Forest (INF) to manage pinyon at Holiday Campground (located near Tom’s Place). Traditionally, Paiute people “cleaned” and cared for pinyon trees to facilitate pine nut gathering which involved the removal of dead lower branches and the clearing of duff from around the trees. These traditional practices are similar to Forest Service best management practices for fuels reduction work in pinyon-juniper woodlands. At Holiday Campground, EMO staff collaborate with INF personnel to fuse these practices together with the future goal of expanding collaborative management of pinyon-juniper woodlands throughout INF. In the summer, EMO staff including our Tribal Conservation Corps (TCC) crewmembers look forward to participating in traditional cleaning of Pinyon in collaboration with INF staff.
PiCCA Project
Another aspect of EMO pinyon stewardship is participation in the Pinyon Community Climate Action Project (PiCCA). PiCCA is a collaborative, community-based project to improve understanding of community needs and values for forest stewardship and the impacts of climate change on residents in the Sierra Nevada. Participants include Big Pine Paiute Tribe, Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bureau of Land Management, Bridgeport Indian Colony, Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Sierra Business Council, Friends of the Inyo, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, US Forest Service, and the Washoe Tribe.
The PiCCA project expands upon a pinyon health monitoring project that EMO developed almost six years ago called the Tribal Citizen Wünüpü. PiCCA is assisting EMO in preparing the Tribal Citizen Wünüpü for broadscale application as well as develop a research framework that protects and respects Tribal data sovereignty. Please click here to view the Tribal Citizen Wünüpü.
Image by Cal Omohundro.
Image by Cal Omohundro.