East Brawley Peak--Worth Saving

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View of East Brawley Peak in the distance, in the center.

Limber pines--old growth trees, young trees, and hand sawed stumps. This stand of limber pines on top of East Brawley Peak is the largest stand in the Bodie Hills.

Thick, white branches of an old growth, healthy limber pine.

High point on East Brawley Peak. An old-growth stand of mountain mahogany in the saddle (foreground).

Looking east at Mt. Hicks in the distance, Lucky Boy Pass and Wassuks to the left, Aurora Peak in the middle with the communications tower on top of it.

View of the Aurora MIne. The lightest spot in the mine area is the tailings pad of cyanide leached rock. 

View to the north looking across Fletcher Valley with the Wassuks to the right and Mt. Grant in the distance.

View of West Brawley Peak, the saddle between East and West Brawley Peak, with Bodie and Potato Peaks in the distance. This is where Hecla Nevada/Klondex wants to put 17 drill pads. Some of the drill sites will be in the limber pines. Most will be in the open area in the saddle. 

View to the north of the Dry Lakes Plateau with water in one of the ephemeral lakes at the base of Beauty Peak (the brown volcano to right of the lake) and Bald Peak (the white peak to the right of Beauty Peak). Limber pines in the foreground and the Sweetwater Mountains in the distance. Paramount Gold has been approved to drill between Bald Peak and Beauty Peak. Access will be via helicopter. 

Looking a little more to the west into the heart of the Bodie Hills and the Dry Lakes Plateau. One can see Bodie and Potato Peaks from here in the distance on the far left, but the peaks were cut off in this photo.

Looking to the southwest, one can see Mono Lake.

Looking at East and West Brawley Peaks from the north from behind the historic Aurora Cemetery.

East Brawley Peak is a great hike with stunning views in all directions. There is a wonderful stand of old-growth limber pines and fragrant mountain mahogany on top. There are other wildlife surprises on top. It is used or traveled through by deer, rabbits, ground squirrels, woodrats, birds, butterflies, grasshoppers and sage grouse.

Unfortunately, Hecla Nevada/Klondex has submitted a plan of operations to the Forest Service to put in roads and drill pads on East Brawley Peak. Six drill pads are on the southeastern slope in a sage grouse mating area. 17 drill pads will be scraped bare in the saddle between the two peaks and in the limber pines. Each drill pad could be as large as 90'x90'. This stunning area will be completely "roaded up" and many old growth limber pines will need to be removed. The project will have a big impact on the sage grouse that use the whole east slope of East Brawley Peak. All this harm, to find gold. Gold that will eventually be extracted from our public lands and exported. The company doesn't even have to pay a royalty to our country. If they want to dig it up, they can take it.

By Lynn Boulton