Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Flooded meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.
Photo courtesy of Sally Miller.

Upper Lee Vining Creek has been flooding the meadows in Lee Vining Canyon for a few weeks, as water flowing at volumes between 300 and 500 cubic feet per second cascades from the reservoirs and melting snow near Tioga Pass. The creek alternates between deceptively tranquil flat water in the meadows and roaring rapids in the rocky sections of the canyon, bringing sediment and beneficial flooding to lower Lee Vining Creek, the creek delta, and eventually Mono Lake.

Check back during this runoff season for more stream restoration updates here on the Mono-logue—you can also find them all by clicking on the “2017 runoff” tag, below.