Tule Elk National Wildlife Refuge

Covering most of the Owens Valley and the adjacent slopes of the Sierra Nevada and White-Inyo Mountains from Owens Lake to just north of Bishop, this proposed refuge embraces a variety of habitats. Though portions of the area, are farmed, the dominant vegetation on the Valley floor is sagebrush scrub, with shadscale scrub interwoven. On the lower slopes of the mountains there are scattered pinyon pine-juniper woodlands which give way, in the higher elevations, to mixed conifer forests. Along the stream-banks there are riparian woodlands. Salt flats and alkaline sinks are also found in the area.

At least eight rare plants are found in the refuge, Astragalus geyeri var. geyeri, Celtis reticulata, Loeflingia squarrosa var. artemisiarum, Lomatium rigidum, Oryctes nevadensis, Sidalcea covillei, Spartina gracilis and Thelypodium brachycarpum, as well as a number of Great Basin plants whose ranges extend into the Valley.

In keeping with the variety of habitats, there is a rich assemblage of animal life. Among the more noteworthy are the rare California bighorn, Ovis canadensis californiana, which is found in the higher elevations, and two endangered fish, the Owens tui chub, Gila bicolor snyderi, and Owens pupfish, Cyprinodon radiosus, which are found in several sites on the Valley floor.

However, the refuge is for the tule elk, Cervus nannodes. Originally this elk was not found in the Owens Valley, its range being confined to the Central Valley of California and the adjacent foothills.

Owens Valley is one of the more spectacular regions of the State, a long, narrow valley 3 kilometers (2 miles) to 13 kilometers (8 miles) wide, flanked on the west by the Sierra escarpment which rises more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above the Valley floor, and on the east by the almost equally spectacular White and Inyo Mountains. The Sierra escarpment is the result of the uplift of the Sierra block and subsidence of the Owens Valley, which is actually a graben. There is a series of parallel boundary faults at the base of the mountains on both the east and west sides of the Valley. The floor of the Valley is Pleistocene and recent alluvium. Many of the alluvial fans are discontinuous, showing recent uplift. During the late Pleistocene the southern end of the Valley was covered by a lake 60 meters (200 feet) deep and 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) extent, of which the dry Owens Lake is a small remnant. Within the Valley are examples of recent volcanism (see Aberdeen Volcanic Field And Vicinity) and, in the Alabama Hills, a remnant of the ancient landscape.

Integrity: Much of the area has been subjected to a variety of uses and the once abundant water now flows via an aqueduct to Los Angeles.

Use: Present, educational, research.

Ref: McCullough, Dale, 1969. The Tule Elk, Its History, Behavior and Ecology. Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, Los Angeles, 216 pp.
Weaver, R. A. 1972. California Bighorn in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game Wild. Mgmt. Admin. Rept. No. 72-7, 16 pp.

January 1976