Tom Schweich  

Definition of the Mono Lake Basin

The current lake surface is at an elevation of 6378 feet, higher than Lake Tahoe (elev. 6224 ft.). The waters are alkaline (pH: ˜ 10), because they contain carbonates and sulfates in addition to chlorides.

This area of California was a passive continental margin during the Paleozoic. During the Mesozoic through about Miocene it was an active continental margin, perhaps somewhat like the west coast of South America at present. Before the Sierra orogeny (~ 3.2 ma.), it drained west through the San Joaquin River canyon.

• Retain the June Lake Loop in Mono Lake basin, but place all of upper Rush Creek beginning at Agnew Lake in Upper Mono Lake basin.
• Retain the floor of Lee Vining Canyon in the Mono Lake basin, but Warren Canyon, Ellery Lake, and higher in the Upper Mono Lake basin.
• Retain the floor of Lundy Canyon including Lundy Lake in Mono Lake basin, but everything above there in Upper Mono Lake basin.

Floristic Research in Nearby Areas

Publications about Plants in the Mono Basin

Taylor also produced three lists in the early 1980s, one each for the H. M. Hall RNA (Research Natural Area), one for Indiana Summit RNA, and a third for Mono Lake.

Floristic Tour of the Mono Basin

Mono Lake Committee

Mono Lake Committee building.

David Winkler chose to pursue a doctorate degree, which left David Gaines and Sally in charge of the Committee. David and Sally traveled around the state showing a slide show on Mono Lake to schools, conservation groups, legislators, and anyone who would listen. They decided on a three-part plan of action: legal, legislative, and educational. They also decided to ask for exactly what they wanted, instead of asking for more and then compromising down to the true goal. In 1979, a Lee Vining storefront was acquired for an office. The Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore opened at this location on Memorial Day weekend in 1979. In order to attract more visitors, the Information Center also functioned as the Lee Vining Chamber of Commerce.

Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area Visitor Center

The Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association (ESIA) operates the bookstore at the visitor center, with a comprehensive selection of books and maps of the region.

Old Marina

The Old Marina is on the shore of Mono Lake, just north of Lee Vining Creek. You can take Mattley Avenue from near the Forest Service Information Center, or by taking US Hwy 395 north to Picnic Grounds Road.

Old Marina at Mono Lake	Lake-side habitat at Old Marina

A series of lawsuits, legal actions, and administrative hearings, begun in 1979 and continuing to day, resulted in State Water Board Decision 1631, which set a target lake level for Mono Lake of 6392 feet, established minimum flows and annual peak flows for the creeks, and ordered DWP to develop restoration plans for the streams and for waterfowl habitat.

As shown in the chart prepared by the Mono Lake Committee, lake level has not yet returned to State Water Board mandated level of 6392 feet.

Picnic Grounds

This is the best turnoff for the road to Old Marina, for Picnic Grounds access, and the David Gaines Memorial Boardwalk.

The gauge stands alone.

Tioga Lodge

What we now call the Tioga Lodge was first Hammond Station, and then the Mono Lake Post Office, before becoming Tioga Lodge.

Tioga Lodge from the vicinity of the Old Marina	Three species of orchid found near Tioga Lodge

The delta of Andy Thompson Creek, below Tioga Lodge, is a place all three species of orchid found in the Mono Lake basin can be found growing together. The orchids are Epipactus gigantea Hook. Stream Orchid, Platanthera dilatata (Pursh) Lindl. ex Beck var. leucostachys (Lindl.) Luer. Sierra Bog Orchid, and Platanthera sparsiflora (S. Watson) Schltr. Sparse-Flowered Bog Orchid.

Northwest Shore of Mono Lake

Dechambeau Creek and Thompson Ranch

A still functioning irrigation ditch in the former Thompson Ranch	Thompson Ranch north of Mono Lake County Park	Coll. No. 1011, Hypericum scouleri

Along one of these ditches I found Hypericum scouleri and Myosotis laxa.

Mono Lake County Park

Great place for a picnic, the Annual Chautauqua picnic is held here, and a stroll down the boardwalk to the lake.

Concert in Mono Lake County Park at conclusion of the 2010 Chautauqua.	Singer-songwriters Keith Greeninger and Dayan Kai sing at the Mono Lake Chautauqua picnic.

Habitat of Coll. No. 1006, Myosotis laxa	Mill Creek above Cemetery Road.	Coll. No. 1006, smooth, shiny seeds with basal attachment scars, length ±1.3 mm.	Coll. No. 1006, corolla diameter 3 mm., calyx tube > lobes.	Coll. No. 1006, stem base often decumbent but base not creeping or stolon-like.
Coll. No. 1006, style < nutlets.	Coll. No. 846, Myosotis laxa

How did the Bay-Forget-Me-Not get to the Mono Lake basin? Since it is found in Mill Creek below Mono City, my guess it that it is a garden escapee. The seed is available commercially, and no special preparation is required. The plants are easy to grow, as long as they have some water.

Where is it found now? Myosotis laxa is found along Mill Creek from US Highway 395 past Mono City all the way to its delta and Mono Lake. It can be seen from the boardwalk at Mono Lake County Park, and in wet areas of the former Thompson Ranch above the county park. Continuing around the northwest shore of Mono Lake, Myosotis laxa can be found in the delta of Andy Thompson Creek, along the boardwalk at Picnic Grounds, and in the delta of Lee Vining Creek.

Lundy Canyon

Lundy Canyon is the northernmost canyon emptying into the Mono Lake basin.

As with the other western canyons, the floor of Lundy Canyon, including Lundy and Lundy Lake, are in the (lower) Mono Lake basin, and most every location above there is in the Upper Mono Lake basin.

Miss Maud Minthorn

There are 75 vouchers of collections made by Miss Maud Minthorn in the vicinity of Lundy during the summer of 1908.

Maud Aileen Minthorn (26 March 1883-1966), was born in Plymouth County, Iowa to Pennington Wesley Minthorn and Anna Mary Heald. Her brother was Theodore Wilson Minthorn, who made a few plant collections himself.

After graduating from the State Normal School in Los Angeles in 1904, Miss Minthorn taught school in Lundy. All of her collections from Lundy are dated from the summer of 1908. This would imply that Miss Minthorn was in Lundy for a single school year.

All of Miss Minthorn's Mono Lake basin collections give "vicinity of Lundy" as the collection location. I have assigned all of the collections to the lower portion of the Mono Lake basin. It is likely, however, that some of the collections were made above 8400 feet and, therefore, would have been assigned to the upper Mono Lake basin were more detailed location information available.

There is one plant named for Miss Minthorn: Astragalus minthorniae (Rydb.) Jepson. (Fl. Calif ii. 374, 1936, Syn: Hamosa minthorniae Rydb. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 54:15, 1927). The type locality is Pioche, Lincoln County, Nevada. This was Miss Maud Minthorn's collection number 77 made on 24 April 1909. The holotype is at NY (Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden).

Miss Minthorn also collected Frasera albomarginata in the vicinity of Pioche, Nevada Nevada, on 9 June, 1909, her collection #44.

Miss Minthorn received an undergraduate scholarship from the State of California for the school year 1910-1911 and wrote an M. S. thesis titled "The nine-point conic," at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1912. After earning her masters she taught high school math in Fresno, California for many years. After retiring she lived in the San Fernando Valley, but died in Pinellas Park, Florida, in 1966.

The western boundary of the Mono Lake basin in Lundy Canyon becomes the northern boundary by snaking out of Lundy Canyon and across the face of Copper Mountain to Conway Summit, elevation 8143 ft. (2482 m.). Between Copper Mountain and Conway Summit is the headwaters of Wilson Creek, most of which is below the 8400 foot boundary between the lower and upper basin.

Copper Mountain is named for the small copper deposits in the only massive limestone of the Mono Lake basin.

The northern boundary of the Mono Lake basin comprises portions of the Bodie Hills from Conway Summit, to the Mount Hicks Spillway in Mineral County, Nevada.

Conway Summit

From Conway Summit the northern boundary passes north of Rattlesnake Gulch and Rancheria Gulch to an unnamed hill at elevation 8662 feet.

Rattlesnake Gulch

Rattlesnake Gulch in Mono Diggin’s is a great location name for a collection.

Cord Norst is credited with discovering gold here on July 7, 1859. While I've done a little collecting here, so far I haven't found anything unusual, except perhaps a specimen I identified as Potentilla gracilis var. fastigiata, which is not typically found away from the higher mountain ranges.

Along Goat Ranch Cutoff, windblown sand from the Mono Dunes and volcanic detritus at the foot of the Bodie Hills mix to form a little different soil.

Here, I have collected Oenothera cespitosa Nutt. Ssp. marginata (Hook. & Arn.) Munz, Tufted Evening Primrose, and Camissonia parvula (Torr. & A. Gray) P. H. Raven, the Lewis River Suncup, growing right next to each other. I also collected four different species of Cryptantha growing within a few meters of each other.

This is also the location of the few collections of Atriplex canescens (Pursh.) Nutt. Var. canescens, Four-wing Saltbush, in the Mono Lake basin. Why it is found only here, I don't know; perhaps some seed fell off a truck carrying hay, sheep, or cattle.

Dechambeau Ranch and Ponds

The hot spring feeding Dechambeau Ponds has attracted some botanical attention.

Black Point

Black Point was a volcano that erupted under the waters Pleistocene Lake Mono. The shape of Black Point was subsequently modified by erosion. One interesting feature of Black Point is the Fissure, a crack in the top of Black Point big enough to walk into.

Black Point	Inside the Fissure	Top of the Fissure

Gilbert et al. (1968) suggested that the volcanoes of Mono Lake are related to the “structural knee” of the western Great Basin, a region in which bedrock structures rotate from north-northwest trends to northeast trends as they are followed from south to north. They concluded that Black Point and the volcanoes of Mono Lake are localized at the apex of the knee, where there should be almost pure extension, as exhibited by the Black Point fissures.

Bridgeport Canyon

The northern boundary crosses an unnamed pass at the head of Bridgeport Canyon, then crosses several peaks to a small peak (8717 ft) 2/3 mile west of Mount Biedeman.

Looking just ahead on the road it, dips where it is crossed by a small watercourse. There is also a small watercourse parallel to the road on the left (east). Within this “point bar” where the two watercourses merge is a south-facing natural area that has the look of someone's carefully tended rock garden.

In the dry year of 2013, this interesting natural rock garden was in full bloom. The Lewisia made me stop and investigate. But what I found kept me there for three hours. Twelve species of plants were collected, all in bloom.

Plants collected in one spot in Bridgeport Canyon.

Mount Biedeman

From the small peak west of Mount Biedeman, then northern boundary turns north to a small pass and California Highway 270 in the Cottonwood Canyon drainage.

Mount Biedeman itself is entirely inside the Mono Lake basin, as the north side drains into the basin through Cottonwood Canyon, while the south side drains into Bridgeport Canyon and the Goat Ranch area.

Sulphur Pond

Bodie & Benton Railway

Warm Springs

On the far eastern shore of Mono Lake is Warm Springs. Here a number of small warm (85°F.) springs create a fairly broad area of wetlands.

Composite photo of Warm Springs, east side of Mono Lake

The type was collected by Dr. Torrey in 1865 and described by Asa Gray in 1874. Torrey's label on the isotype (NY112230) states the collection was made on the “sterile saline plains of Humboldt County, Nevada.” I assume this would be somewhere northwest of Winnemucca. However, a hand-written note on another voucher (NY112231) suggests the collection was made “in a valley west of Job's (sic) Peak, Nevada.” The valley west of Job Peak, Nevada, would be the Lahontan Valley containing the Carson Sink near Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada.

Cottonwood Canyon

East and north of Mount Biedeman, the Cottonwood Canyon drainage extends deeply into the Bodie Hills, about 5 miles north of California Highway 270, all the way to the summit of Bodie Hill. For the purposes of this checklist, I exclude the portions of the Cottonwood Canyon drainage north of California Highway 270.

Murphy Spring -- Full O' Cows

California Highway 270 exits the Mono Lake basin at a small pass at about 1.5 miles southwest of Bodie. The basin boundary swings south and then east across an unnamed hill to a pass just north of Sugarloaf.

Sugarloaf

The hill known as Sugarloaf, south of Bodie and California Highway 270, is good landmark for eastern edge of the Cottonwood Canyon drainage.

Sugarloaf itself is entirely inside the strict definition of the Mono Lake basin, as all of its slopes drain into Cottonwood Canyon. Just a half mile north of Sugarloaf is a small pass through which Cottonwood Canyon Road enters the Bodie Creek basin from Cottonwood Canyon.

Bodie

The mining town is Bodie is just north of the Mono Lake basin. Bodie Creek drains north, ultimately into the East Walker River and then to Walker Lake.

Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by a group of prospectors, including W. S. Bodey. Bodey perished in a blizzard the following November while making a supply trip to Monoville (near present-day Mono City, California), never getting to see the rise of the town that was named after him. The district's name was changed from "Bodey," "Body," and a few other phonetic variations, to "Bodie," after a painter in the nearby boomtown of Aurora, lettered a sign "Bodie Stables."

Gold discovered at Bodie coincided with the discovery of silver at nearby Aurora (thought to be in California, later found to be Nevada), and the distant Comstock Lode beneath Virginia City, Nevada. But while these two towns boomed, interest in Bodie remained lackluster. By 1868 only two companies had built stamp mills at Bodie, and both had failed.

Two of the more interesting people who visited Bodie and Aurora were: Israel Russel and Mark Twain.

Israel C. Russell

Born at Garrattsville, New York, in 1852, he received B.S. and C.E. degrees in 1872 from the University of the City of New York (now New York University), and later studied at the School of Mines, Columbia College, where he was assistant professor of geology from 1875-77.

In 1878 he became assistant geologist on the United States geological and geographical survey west of the 100th meridian, becoming a member of the United States Geological Survey in 1880. Between 1881 and 1885 he worked at Mono Lake in east-central California. Originally employed for work with regard to surveying and building the Bodie Railway connecting Bodie to Mono Mills, he stayed for four years and wrote the seminal work Quaternary History of Mono Valley, California (1884).

Mark Twain

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), one of America's best-known writers, began his literary career after several of his letters to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise were published in the summer of 1862. He wrote those letters while living with his mining partners at Aurora, Nevada.

Twains's residence in Aurora was relatively brief, beginning in the spring of 1862, so that he could personally attend to the many mining claims he and his brother had purchased. His first job at Aurora was as a miner digging and blasting tunnels in some of their more promising claims. Unfortunately, neither his labor as a miner, nor his speculation in Aurora’s mines, provided any income. Since his only paying job “as a common laborer in a quartz mill, at ten dollars a week and board,” lasted only a week, Sam was forced to live off money sent to him by his brother in Carson City.

Twain never thought much of Aurora. He was eager to leave there during the fall of 1862 for his new job as a reporter in Virginia City. In his last letter from Aurora he complained, “ I don't think much of the camp -- not as much as I did.” He certainly didn't like living in his “wretched” cabin. He never returned.

It wasn't until the 1872 publication of Twain's semi-autobiographical book “Roughing It” that he would write of his visit to Mono Lake.

Brawley Peaks

From Sugarloaf just south of Bodie, the northern boundary curves north to the Brawley Peaks before turning east between Aurora Peak and Spring Peak.

Spring Peak

Mount Hicks and Mount Hicks Spillway

The Mono Lake basin boundary goes northwest to Mount Hicks and then curves northeast to the Mount Hicks Spillway, the most northern point of the basin at the north end of Alkali Valley.

Alkali Valley

Mount Hicks Spillway north across Alkali Valley.

The name of Lake Russell for the Pleistocene lake was proposed by W. C. Putnam (1949). Russell himself proposed to use Lake Mono for the Pleistocene lake filling the basin occupied by the current Mono Lake.

There are five collections in Long Valley, and two in Bridgeport Valley, but none from the Mono Lake basin, except for my collection in Alkali Valley. Given the location that it was found, on the muddy edge of an alkali playa, at the edge of the sagebrush, it seems surprising that it has such a wide distribution of geography and habitat.

Anchorite Hills

The eastern boundary of the Mono Lake basin from Anchorite Pass to the Adobe Hills Spillway is pretty vague through the Adobe Hills as there are few well-known landmarks.

Very large Utah Juniper, Collection No. 571

The extreme dryness has greatly limited the understory vegetation, perhaps creating a fire-safe location for these very large Junipers near the Nevada border (Barbour, et al., 2007).

Deep Cañon

Ridges in the patterned ground near Deep Canon	Anchor eyes embedded in the ridges of patterned ground.

In a good wet year, this area could use some botanical attention.

There is also some sort of odd patterned ground out here. At the surface it's a little difficult to recognize, but, on GoogleEarth, it's obvious that someone was out here tearing up the landscape. Having looked at it on the ground, I doubt it was the result of Pinyon clearance. The pattern is rectilinear, and there are a few anchor eyes visible above the surface. It looks more like an antenna experiment, in which cables were buried in a rectilinear pattern to provide a ground plane below an antenna or a tower.

An article in the April 3, 2017, issue of High Country News provided the necessary clue to the source of this odd patterned ground when the author (Fox, 2017) referred to large fires set east of Mono Lake in “Project Flambeau.” In 1962, the Forest Service in cooperation with the Department of Defense undertook a large-scale investigation – called Project Flambeau – to add to current knowledge of the characteristics and behavior of mass fire. The study was not designed to develop cause-and-effect relationships, but rather to gain some insight into as many aspects as possible of mass fire. A series of test fires were burned on isolated sites in California and Nevada. Five of the fires were conducted near Basalt, Mineral County, Nevada. Two fires were on the east side of Mono Lake, near Deep Cañon. And two more fires were near Queens Valley Ranch, Mineral County, Nevada (Palmer, 1969). The ranch in the section given by Palmer, T1N R33E S18, is called the Hereford Valley Ranch on USGS maps and in the GNIS. The data collected were intended to provide information about large free-burning fires for use in development of realistic theoretical and experimental studies aimed at solving specific mass fire problems. The investigation was focused on urban fires and civil defense problems, but information obtained should be useful for other purposes as well (Countryman, 1969).

Adobe Hills Spillway

View to south of the spillway.	Coll. No. 618, Ipomopsis congesta at the Adobe Hills Spillway

At the spillway is a fresh water sandstone with fossil snail shells. There are a few Ipomopsis congesta (Hook.) V. E. Grant ssp. congesta (Ballhead Ipomopsis) growing on the sandstone. Most other collections of Ipomopsis congesta, typically in the high passes on the west side of the Mono Lake basin, are of ssp. montana. In fact, with the exception of two collections in the Inyo Mountains, most collections of ssp. congesta were made far to the north in Lassen, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties. Determination of subspecies of Ipomopsis congesta is made by the lobing of leaves, which is pinnate for ssp. congesta and palmate for montana. The leaves of the collections made at the Adobe Hills Spillway are clearly pinnate, leading to a determination of ssp. congesta.

Cowtrack Mountain

Adobe Hills Spillway from Cowtrack Mountain

Sagehen Summit

Wildflowers at Big Sand Flat.	Astragalus monoensis in Big Sand Flat

Big Sand Flat is a half mile wide by 3½ miles long. It was formed by faulting on the northwest side.

Big Sand Flat is also the type locality of Lupinus duranii Eastw., the Mono Lake Lupine (Victor Duran, #3343, July 15, 1932, vouchers at CAS, DS, GH, NY, POM, RSA, UC, UCD). In wet years, it often puts on a good show with Mimulus nanus Hook. & Arn. Var. mephiticus (Greene) D. M. Thomps., the Mono Lake form of the Skunky Monkey Flower.

While not the type locality of Astragalus monoensis Barneby, the Mono Milk-Vetch, the taxon can be found scattered around the flat.

The type of P. cinicola is a collection of Keck, D. D., and Jens Clausen, #3690, made June 23, 1935, just north of Lapine, Deschutes County, Oregon. The best displays of the Ash Penstemon are at Crooked Meadows, just outside the Mono Lake basin.

Mono Mills

There were many other sources of human disturbance in the Mono Lake basin, such as local ranching to supply the miners, artificial duck ponds at Rush Creek, and much sheep grazing, so that no area in the basin can be described as "pristine."

The type locality of Mentzelia monoensis J. M. Brokaw & L. Hufford, (J. M. Brokaw #367, 16 June 2007) is described as along California Highway 120 just north of Mono Mills.

South Tufa

This is a good place to see Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.) Torr. or Greasewood.

At Crestview, just south of Deadman Summit, is the type locality of Lupinus monoensis Eastwood (J. T. Howell, #14498, August 10, 1938, CAS272810). Alas, the name did not survive having been reduced in synonomy to Lupinus breweri A. Gray var. grandiflorus C. P. Sm., the Matted Lupine.

Little Sand Flat

Deadman Summit

To the south, and in the Owens River drainage, is Crestview, really just a highway maintenance at the bottom of the grade to Deadman Summit. There are a number of collections made that give Crestview, Crestview Camp, or Crestview area, as the location. Perhaps Crestview was more of a settlement in past times. A few of the collections are far enough north of Crestview, e.g., 4.2 miles, that they are likely in the Mono Lake basin.

To the north of Deadman Summit are Wilson Butte, a rhyolitic plug dome, and Hartley Springs, both in the Mono Lake basin.

June Lake

June Lake and Silver Weed Cinquefoil

There is a William M. Maule collection of Potentilla anserina ssp. anserina (JEPS44183) made at “Summit Lake.” In the survey made by S. A. Hanson in 1879 and 1883 for the U. S. Surveyor's office, June Lake was called Summit Lake. It was not called June Lake until the General Land Office map of field work done in 1929 (Bean, 1977).

Coll. No. 821, Agropyron cristatum, "Crested Wheat Grass"

However, I have since found Crested Wheat Grass in three places: one among the Bitterbrush on the beach at the northeast end of June Lake, and two places in disturbed areas in the housing developments north of Gull Lake. So it is either fairly common in this area having been planted to reduce erosion, or is spreading into disturbed areas near the upper lakes.

Reversed Peak

Gull Lake

Silver Meadows

On the flanks of Reversed Peak just above Silver Meadows there are several glacier cut terraces. Arctostaphylos patula, the snowbush manzanita, makes its only Mono Lake basin appearance on one of these terraces just above the Silver Lake Tract.

Rush Creek

Rush Creek enters Mono Lake

Silver Lake

In the meantime, I have had several conversations with hikers familiar with the area. They tell me there is something that sounds like a gentian along upper Rush Creek, where the trail crosses Rush Creek at a footbridge just below Agnew Lake. This would be in the Upper Mono Lake Basin, but perhaps a source of seed for the gentian around Silver Lake.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake (historical)

Grant Lake

Parker Lake

The Parker Lake trail is fairly easy, and a good place to see Leptosiphon ciliatus (Benth.) Jeps., or Whiskerbrush, in the middle portion of the trail. Watch also for Allophyllum gilioides (Benth.) A. D. Grant & V. E. Grant ssp. violaceum (A. Heller) A. G. Day, Dense False Gilyflower, which has been collected along this trail and in the vicinity of Lundy.

Parker Creek

Along the edge of one of these wetlands, near the Los Angeles aqueduct intake, Poa compressa L. and P. pratensis L. grow in close proximity.

This is also a good place to see the Geyer willow (Salix geyeriana Andersson) growing right by the roadside.

Mono Pass

The historic route across the Sierra Nevada was across Mono Pass, descending Bloody Canyon, past Walker Lake.

View of Mono Lake from Mono Pass

Walker Lake

Much of the land around Walker Lake is privately owned, and the road has a locked gate. To visit Walker Lake you must go to the trailhead atop the south lateral moraine, and then walk down 600 feet to the east or upstream end of the lake.

Walker Creek

Pumice Valley

California Geological Survey

One of them (W. H. Brewer, #1823, July 8, 1863, UC32860, “UC” indicates the collection is in the University Herbarium of the University of California) was collected as Bahia lanata DC. Rydberg used this collection as the type of Eriophyllum monoense Rydb. However, that name did not survive as a succession of authors placed it in synonymy with various varieties of Eriophyllum lanatum (Pursh) J. Forbes (Syn: Bahia lanata DC.), ending with Eriophyllum lanatum (Pursh) J. Forbes var. integrifolium (Hook.) Smiley.

Chesnut and Drew

Rush Creek

For many years following the diversion of all its water to Los Angeles, Rush Creek was dry or nearly so. However, various court and State Water Board decisions established minimum flows and annual peak flows for the creeks, and ordered the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) to develop restoration plans for the streams and for waterfowl habitat. With water in the creek, vegetation is returning.

Malcolm A. Nobs and S. Galen Smith

Malcolm A. Nobs and S. Galen Smith made 33 collections of plants around water sources on September 1, 1949, as part of California Division Fish Game Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project #20-R. Project reports referenced by State of California, Online Archive of California, Inventory of the Department of Natural Resources Records, 1927-Sept. 30, 1961, in [ Folder F3735:551 ], referred to this as Project 20R, Survey of Waterfowl Food Plants of California - quarterly progress reports, 1945-50.

The Pittman Robertson Act, also known as the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (50 Stat. 917), approved September 2, 1937, was the result of concerted efforts by wildlife and conservation organizations to provide some means of restoring natural conditions so as to offset the rapid depletion of many species of wild mammals and birds and provide a surplus to be harvested annually by hunting. Funding was limited to amounts not exceeding the annual revenue from the tax on sales of arms and ammunition and matched in the ratio of 75% Federal and 25% State moneys. The program was administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

One of the locations that Nobs and Smith collected was at the Rush Creek Duck Ponds. They are somewhere along Rush Creek, I believe in part just below Test Station Road, and on the east side of Rush Creek. Primary collectors at the duck ponds were Malcolm A. Nobs and S. Galen Smith.

S. Galen Smith is an emereti of the Department of Biology, University of Wisonsin-Whitewater and is still active in California floristics, being the author for a portion of Cyperaceae, and all of Sparganiaceae and Typhaceae, for The Jepson Manual (2nd edition).

Malcolm A. Nobs worked for a time at the Timberline Experiment Station and completed a Ph.D. in Botany at the University of California, Berkeley, 1957.

Rush Creek Delta

There is an interesting interplay here between the alkaline water and the plants. As you can see in the inset graph, the lake level can vary as much as two feet during a single year. That means the deltaic deposits behind me were inundated by the alkaline water through much of 2011 and 2012, and then quickly exposed in the summer of 2012. So they are newly available for plant colonization whenever they were sufficiently rinsed by the fresh water of Rush Creek. This changeable habitat favors plants that have some minimal tolerance alkalinity, and those that can rapidly colonize newly exposed soil.

The image lists some of the plants that have been collected here.

Rush Creek delta and Mono Lake.	Flowers of Heliotropium curassavicum on the Rush Creek delta.

Shockley was a mining engineer at Candelaria. He made many collections in the White Mountains, but there is no indication that he ever visited Mono Lake. Following a herbarium search, it turns out there is another voucher of Shockley’s #437 (UC78866). This voucher came to UC by way of the Brandegee herbarium. The label states that it was collected at Walker Lake, Mineral County, Nevada. This is probably the correct location of that collection, and therefore there is no historic collection of Seaside Heliotrope in Mono County.

As it happens, though, Kim Kersh and I found Seaside Heliotrope in the Rush Creek Delta on August 30, 2010 (My collection #717, UC1980416). So now we have a good, well-located collection showing that Seaside Heliotrope does occur at Mono Lake and in Mono County.

Farringtons

This collection was made and name published because California collectors were mis-applying the name of Gilia subacaulis Rydb. or Aliciella subacaulis (Rydb.) J. M. Porter & L. A. Johnson. This name refers to a narrow Wyoming endemic. So Aliciella monoensis J.M.Porter & A.G.Day was published to remove this source of confusion.

These plants have been treated as members of genus Gilia until recently, when it was proposed they be moved back to Aliciella. This genus was created in 1905 to include certain gilias that seemed distinct from most of the others, but it was abandoned soon after. Recent genetic analyses suggest it should be revived.

Horse Meadows

Lower and Upper Horse Meadows were formed by the piling up of the lateral moraine of the Lee Vining Canyon glacier against the ridge terminated by Williams Butte. Without the lateral moraine the ridge would just fall away to Lee Vining Canyon and there would be no Horse Meadows.

Lower Horse Meadow with Mono Lake beyond.

Lee Vining Canyon

• Chrysolepis sempervirens (Kellogg) Hjelmq. Bush Chinquapin.
• Cornus sericea L. ssp. sericea. (Syn: Cornus stolonifera Michaux ) Creek Dogwood
• Keckiella breviflora (Lindl.) Straw var. glabrisepala (D. D. Keck) N. H. Holmgren. Bush Beardtongue.
• Solanum umbelliferum Eschsch. Blue Witch Nightshade.

These four taxa are unusual in the Mono Lake Basin, and found here in Lee Vining canyon and in Lundy Canyon, which is also a long deep canyon of the east slope.

How these taxa migrated to the east slope is unknown. It is tempting to speculate that human or animal migration carried the seeds. However, humans used Mono Pass and Bloody Canyon rather than Lee Vining Canyon, so that seems unlikely. Perhaps it is only the shape of canyons, being relatively long, and with a relatively low elevation floor, that was hospitable to the west slope taxa.

Lee Vining

Lee Vining

Upper Mono Basin

South of the Dana Plateau are Walker Creek in Bloody Canyon, headed by Mono Pass, and then Parker Creek, and the Koip Crest.

The first recorded discovery of Mono Lake was by US Army Lt. Tredwell Moore in 1852. Lt. Moore and members of his detachment became the first European Americans to discover the Mono Lake basin. The army was in pursuit of Chief Teneiya's Yosemite Miwok after a group of Indians attacked and killed three prospectors on the headwaters of the Merced River. The pursuit led them to Mono Pass for their first glimpse of Mono Lake.

South of Mono Pass is the Upper Rush Creek or Gem Lake basin, which includes the east slope of Mount Lyell, Mount Davis, bounded by Island Pass and Agnew Pass, southeast to the mountains above June Lake.

Carl Sharsmith

Finding Historic Locations

Maloney Place

There are six collections by Jack Reveal and Jim Reveal (father and son) made in 1962 and 1963 at the Maloney Place. The location is uncertain, but it is probably on the northwest shore of Mono Lake, near Danburg Beach.

Plant Collectors in the Mono Basin

Last updated: 2 December 2015.

Mono Basin Research Group

Collection Locations in the Mono Basin

Checklist of the Mono Basin Flora

Checklist of the Upper Mono Basin Flora

The preparation of the checklists for the Upper Mono Lake basin is mostly a by-product of the checklist for the Mono Lake basin. As each voucher of a Mono County collection was examined, I first determined whether the collection was made within the Mono Lake hydrographic basin and, if so, recorded the data. Later, I made the determination of whether the collection locality was in the (lower) Mono Lake basin or the Upper Mono Lake basin.

Regardless, I have put less energy into completing the checklist of the Upper Mono Lake basin. Therefore, the data in the checklist for the Upper Mono Lake basin are more likely to be incomplete, rather than incorrect.

How the Flora is Built

Literature Cited