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Map Satellite Dudley Ridge forms a portion of the southern rim of the Tulare Lake bed, the former drainage basin for the Kings and Kaweah Rivers. (See Tulare Lake Basin Area). Levee and dike construction has caused the lake to remain dry in average rainfall years, and the marsh forms only in the lakebed wetlands during years of exceptionally high rainfall. In these marshy, alkaline sites are found such species as Juncus bufonius, Lasthenia minor, and the non-native Chamomilla suaveolens.
A portion of the area is cultivated, the remainder is valley grassland with non-native Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens, non-native Schismus arabicus, Atriplex polycarpa, and Hemizonia pallida, etc. Two rare plants are found on the ridge, Atriplex vallicola and Eriogonum gossypinum.
As with the plants, the fauna has been disturbed; however, some species are still abundant including the San Joaquin kangaroo rat, Dipodomys nitratoides nitratoides, and the whiptailed lizard, Cnemidophorus tigris. The endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard, Crotaphytus wislizenii, is found in the area.
Integrity: Most of the original habitat has been destroyed as farming takes over. This process is continuing.
Use: Private
November 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2008 Steven Louis Hartman
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