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.

Come water trees with us on Wednesday!

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.

This post was written by Julia Runcie, 2011 Mono Lake Intern.

This Wednesday, August 17, join Mono Lake Committee interns and local volunteers as we water Jeffrey pine seedlings along Rush Creek. The trees were planted in an effort to help restore healthy riparian vegetation to the creek, which ran dry for about 50 years due to excessive diversions.

Volunteers help water Jeffrey pine saplings on the banks of Rush Creek.

Jeffrey pines are unusual trees, growing primarily in a narrow corridor from southern Oregon south to Baja California. Large stands of Jeffrey pines occur right here in Mono County, where rich volcanic soils aid their growth. The pines provide habitat for many local species, including White-breasted Nuthatches and golden-mantled ground squirrels. Along the creeks, Jeffrey pines help stabilize loose soils and prevent stream bank incision during high flows.

We’ll start the morning at 10:00am on the Visitor Center patio with a short interactive presentation on restoration work in the Mono Basin. Afterwards, we’ll carpool to the banks of Rush Creek and spend an hour watering the young pine trees. It’s a fun way to participate in the recovery of Mono Lake’s largest tributary stream while enjoying the outdoors. Best of all, we provide delicious snacks to thank you for your help!

Join us at 10:00am at the Visitor Center this Wednesday, or contact Julia or Mila at (760) 647-6595 for more information.

2 Comments

  1. I am very interested on this planting. How many trees were planted and whas section of rush creek did the planting take place. I am a member of the FFF and we do a stream clean up every year on Rush creek by Silver lake on the last Saturday in June.

    Joe Lemire

  2. Hi Joe,

    Here on the Mono Basin Clearinghouse website you can see records of all the tree plantings the Mono Lake Committee has done since 1993: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/riparian.htm. These particular Jeffrey pines are along a short section of Rush Creek on Oil Plant Road about half a mile south of the junction with Test Station Road.

    Thanks for your interest. I hope you can join us on Wednesday!
    -Julia