W
elcome to the Lee Vining Creek Trail: a
moderate 1.6-mile walk from the south end
of Lee Vining to the Forest Service Visitor Center
at the north end of town. Heading downstream
with this brochure in hand, take time to personally
observe a recovering creek ecosystem—one whose
health and permanent existence is vital to the future
of Mono Lake.
A Damaged creek...
In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water &
Power (DWP) began diverting excessive quantities
of fresh water from four of the five streams that feed
Mono Lake, including Lee Vining Creek. Within
decades, the lake dropped 45 vertical feet, doubled
in salinity, and teetered on the brink of ecological
collapse. Tributary streams that once coursed with
water went dry, and a once rich and productive
riparian—or streamside—habitat faded away as
water was funneled south to a thirsty city.
...but a hopeful future
David Gaines and friends founded the Mono
Lake Committee in 1978 and began the hard
work of getting more water back into the lake and
its lifeblood streams. In 1994, after a decade of
litigation, the California Water Resources Control
Board ordered DWP to allow Mono Lake to rise to
a healthy level of 6392 feet above sea level—twenty
feet above Mono Lake’s historic low. As water flows
down the creeks on its way to the lake, the stream
channels are returning to health as well.
Mono Lake Committee
Information Center
& Bookstore
95
Hw
y3
Motel
Forest Service
Visitor
Center
Creek Trail
eek
Lee Vining Cr
WHAT IS A STREAM?
WHAT GROWS HERE?
During the last ice age glaciers carved many
Eastern Sierra canyons; as the glaciers melted, water
rushed down Lee Vining Canyon towards Mono Lake.
When temperatures rise
each spring, Lee Vining
Creek experiences high
water flows fed by
melting snow, which is
crucial to healthy stream
function. In the lowlands
near the creek’s mouth,
channels diverge and
converge, supporting a
broad wooded wetland.
In addition to
transporting water,
Glaciers in Lee Vining Canyon.
streams also move
sediment. Sediment—clay, silt, sand, pebbles, and
gravel—is intrinsic to a creek’s health. It provides places
for plants to grow and fish to lay eggs, and its movement
downstream shapes the creek. Diversion dams tend to
block sediment from traveling downstream, causing
streambanks to erode, natural channels to disappear, and
floodplains to be washed away.
Here in the Great Basin high desert environment
streams are ribbons
of life. Healthy
riparian habitat
offers reliable water
and nutrients to a
greater diversity of
plant and animal
species than would
otherwise be found
in such dry areas.
Lee Vining Creek’s
cool and moist
microclimate is an
important, lifeproducing oasis in
On its way to Mono Lake, Lee Vining Creek
passes through several different habitats.
the Mono Basin.
Riparian Vegetation
Prior to diversions, Lee Vining Creek had narrow
channels with vertical banks stabilized
by dense, multi-storied riparian
vegetation. Overhanging
branches shaded the water,
and roots protruding into
the stream provided
fish refuge from
predation and swiftly
flowing water. Riparian
Black
plants have unique adaptations for
cottonwood
natural fluctuations in stream flow. Willow
For example, Lee Vining Creek is
home to the black cottonwood, which releases winddispersed seeds when the streamflow peaks—just in
time for the seedlings to root.
Desert Scrub
Beyond streamside
forest, the landscape
opens and looks
similar to the rest
of the Mono Basin.
Notice the change in
the air and temperature.
The plants that grow in this
sagebrush scrub community
must tolerate heat, direct
sunlight, and much less water
Desert peach
than their riparian neighbors.
Plants such as sagebrush and desert peach
flourish in these dry conditions because
they have special adaptations—deep tap
roots, light color, and small, tightly
clustered leaves—to survive in such
harsh conditions. As Lee Vining
Creek dried due to diversions, these
plants began to inhabit once-wet
riparian environments.
Sagebrush
WHO LIVES HERE?
HELPING HANDS
Diverse riparian
vegetation and a cool,
moist microclimate
make Lee Vining Creek
an important multi-layered
habitat for many
animals that
American Dipper
wouldn’t
survive in the arid Great Basin. In the rushing
current, look for rainbow trout swimming in shady
pools, aquatic invertebrates attached to rocks, and
American Dippers diving into the stream to feed.
Can you spy any tracks or scat of mule deer and
white-tailed jackrabbits, or spot Yellow Warblers
flitting between
cottonwood trees
and rose bushes in
the riparian forest
understory?
Rainbow trout
An essential component of the 1994 State Water
Board Decision is DWP’s requirement to restore Mono
Lake’s tributary streams. The most important step was
to correct the most harmful disturbance—the lack of
water! With plenty of time, nature can recover from
disturbance, but because Lee Vining Creek is heavily
managed, it will never flow completely naturally again.
Nonetheless, by reinstating natural processes like peak
flows and lending the creek a helping hand, people can
help many lost resources return.
Close to the Visitor Center, desert vegetation
dominates the landscape, providing home for species
adapted to dry conditions not found by the
creek bank. Here, it’s common to see
cotton-tailed rabbits or golden-mantled
ground squirrels scurrying between bushes
on the search for nuts and seeds. Can
you hear noisy
Clark’s Nutcrackers
chattering in
Jeffrey pines or
Fence lizard
see Violetgreen Swallows elegantly
snatching insects in mid-air?
As you walk, notice fence
lizards sunning themselves
on sun-heated sand or
scurrying out of sight into
the scrub. At nightfall, keep
your eyes and ears open for
spadefoot toads, kangaroo
rats, and perhaps a coyote.
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Stream scientists, volunteers, and community
members banded together to do important mechanical
work like creating channels for flows, digging pools,
and laying gravel bars. Kids from Los Angeles planted
and watered Jeffrey pines as a part of the Committee’s
Outdoor Experiences program. Stream restoration
is more than returning water to dry streambeds—it
includes the conscious practice of water conservation.
Awareness of where our water comes from and how
it gets to our faucets is a fundamental element in
protecting and restoring wild and wonderful places
like Mono Lake, and streams like Lee Vining Creek.
We all must be stewards of this land.
M O N O LAKE
C O M M I T T E E
P.O. Box 29
•
(760) 647-6595
Lee Vining, CA 93541
•
www.monolake.org
ARTWORK COURTESY OF CARL DENNIS BUELL, JOHN MUIR LAWS, AND CHRIS MCCREEDY. TEXT, DESIGN BY CLAIRE SKINNER.
MONO LAKE COMMITTEE FIELD GUIDE SERIES
DISCOVER THE
LEE
VINING
CREEK
TRAIL