About the
High Sierra
Hikers Association

The High Sierra Hikers Association (HSHA) is a nonprofit, all volunteer organization formed in 1991 by a handful of concerned hikers. The HSHA currently has more than 700 members from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

We feel that the management agencies in the High Sierra are heavily biased in favor of commercial interests such as horse & mule packers, cattle & sheep grazers, and mining companies. These interests exploit, debase, and pollute our cherished national lands for private gain—to the detriment of those of us on foot, and at great cost to the public.

While the Sierra Club and other conservation groups have moved on to national and global issues, the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada continues to suffer at the hands of these commercial interests and under the hooves of horses, mules, cattle, and sheep. Commercial mule packers, livestock grazers, and mining companies are well organized, have high-priced legal help, and essentially have had things their own way for decades.

We are also very concerned about other threats affecting hikers, such as the unfairness of current wilderness quotas and permit systems, and the disruption of the natural quiet caused by increasingly common military training overflights.

What We Do

To influence the policies of the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, we urge hikers to write to decision-makers regarding current management issues.

Since it was formed in 1991, the HSHA has successfully appealed wilderness management plans and federal grazing plans for the High Sierra. The result is fewer cattle, sheep, and horses grazing and trampling sensitive wilderness areas of the High Sierra. We have stalled plans by the Inyo National Forest to upgrade primitive east-side trails (such as Taboose and Sawmill passes) to full-blown "stock standards." We sued the National Park Service for increasing the stock animal limit at Sequoia & Kings Canyon NPs from 20 to 25 animals per group. We won that suit, and the court threw out the increase.

Today, we continue to review government plans and policies, and to challenge decisions that compromise the quality and integrity of the High Sierra for the benefit of special interests.

Join Us

Give yourself a voice by joining the HSHA. But please note that the HSHA is an all-volunteer organization. There is no paid staff and no office. We are often too busy addressing current issues to respond to detailed inquiries. If you want to stay informed and make a difference by writing letters to the right people at the right times, the HSHA is for you. If you want to be pampered by the kinds of services provided by the large, national conservation organizations, we're probably not for you.

Our mailing list is confidential. We will not sell, loan, trade, or otherwise provide your name or address to anyone. We do not put your money in our pockets. All donations are used exclusively for expenses such as paper, printing, and postage, and occasionally for legal expenses when lawsuits or other legal action become necessary.

Are you fed up with wading through manure on churned-up trails? Disgusted by the trampled meadows and trashed campsites in the High Sierra? Sickened by the knowledge that livestock defecate and urinate in the streams and lakes from which we drink? Angry that this pollution and destruction is caused by entrenched self-interests that profit from their use of public land? If so, join the hundreds of concerned hikers who make up the HSHA.

About theHigh Sierra Hikers Association

What We Do

Join Us

About the
High Sierra
Hikers Association