This past Wednesday, Lee Vining Elementary School fifth graders and Mono Lake Committee staffers joined by local volunteers planted 119 native lodgepole and Jeffrey pines in the cobble plain of Lee Vining Creek down near Mono Lake. The volunteer effort will help jump-start forest recovery in Lee Vining Creek’s delta.

"We’re hoping for good success with this planting," said Greg Reis, Mono Lake Committee restoration coordinator. "Lee Vining Creek is close to its seasonal peak, and the high water table should be good for seedling establishment." The Mono Lake Committee organized this volunteer event as part of its continuing commitment to helping restore Mono Basin streams.

According to Reis, inner city youth participating in the Committee’s 1999 Outdoor Experiences program will water the seedlings to help the young trees make it through their first summer.

Planting in specific sites along Rush and Lee Vining creeks was called for in the Mono Basin restoration plan approved last fall by the State Water Resources Control Board. This plan lays out the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s (DWP) responsibilities for bringing back habitat that was lost on the streams after 50 years of diversions.

"The primary restoration tool we’re using in the Mono Basin is stream flow," said Brian Tillemans, water resources manager for DWP who identified where the pines should be planted, based on stream scientists’ recommendations. "We’re seeing good riparian recovery already, just with the flows we now have in the streams. But there are a number of areas that are slow to recuperate or that simply don’t have a good seed source. The planting helps get things going in these areas."

When mature, pines planted last Wednesday will offer numerous benefits to Lee Vining Creek’s delta. They will help stabilize stream banks, shade and cool the stream, offer bird and wildlife habitat, and contribute organic material to the stream channel. When the trees eventually die and fall in the stream, they will continue to provide instream benefits. Logs and rootwads create cover for fish and a substrate for invertebrates to colonize. These large pieces also interact with stream flow, enhancing stream scour and sediment deposition.

"Trees are one of the many components in the floodplain that interact with stream hydraulics to produce healthy, functioning stream systems," said Tillemans.

Between 1992 and 1997, a variety of plantings have occurred on Mono Basin streams. All told, thousands of native cottonwoods, willows and pines have been planted in the bottomlands of Rush and Lee Vining creeks, as well as along Walker Creek on Cain Ranch. Survival rates vary, depending on many factors, including timing of the planting, weather patterns, changes in groundwater levels, wildlife browsing, and such.

The Wednesday planting was a joint effort by DWP, the Mono Lake Committee, Lee Vining Elementary School, the USFS and local volunteers. The pine seedlings were donated by the USFS, which grew them from local seed sources.