The Important Long Valley
It should be clear by now that we here at the Keep Long Valley Green Coalition consider this area to be important, but did you know one of the many reasons this area matters is because of the thousands of migratory birds that call this place home throughout the year?
Audubon’s Important Bird Area (IBA) Program, whose purpose is to identify, monitor, and protect the most important places for birds, has recognized 14 Important Bird Areas in the Eastern Sierra, which will not shock any who have been fortunate enough to encounter the amazing biodiversity throughout the greater region. If you have only passed by Crowley Lake on US 395, however, you might not expect that this man-made reservoir is also its own Important Bird Area. Taking a step off the highway, standing on the shores of Crowley Lake or taking a walk through the many dirt roads that crisscross the surrounding wetlands and meadows of Long Valley, a visitor will quickly understand what makes this area so important.
Right Crowley Lake by EcoFlight
What is an Important Bird Area?
Important Bird Areas are defined as sites that support the following:
- Species of conservation concern, such as threatened and endangered species,
- Range-restricted species, which are species that are considered vulnerable because they are not widely distributed,
- Species whose populations are concentrated in one general habitat type or biome,
- Species, or groups of similar species such as waterfowl or shorebirds, that are considered vulnerable because they occur at high densities due to their congregatory behavior.
The Crowley Lake area is an Important Bird Area which meets not only Califronia's State IBA requirements, which address regional concerns for habitat and population, but the global IBA criteria as well, marking it as a priority area for global habitat and population concerns.
When the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) flooded the land behind the Long Valley Dam, the wetlands that sat in the valley, fed by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Glass Mountain Ridge, were lost. Irrigation allowances on LADWP ranching leases partially mitigate this habitat loss, spreading water across the meadows that remain.
Today, a variety of species from near and far use this area, taking advantage of both the reservoir and the surrounding irrigated pastures.
Left Large numbers of birds flock every year to Owens Lake, another Important Bird Area in the Eastern Sierra. Photo by Tom Knudson
Winged Residents and Tourists
Who is showing up in Long Valley?
According to the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, “the last few years at Crowley have produced Arctic Tern, Greater Scaup, White-winged and Surf Scoters, Chestnut-collared Longspurs, Long-tailed Jaeger, White-rumped Sandpiper, Long-tailed Duck, Red Phalaropes, Sabine’s Gulls (regular in September), and Short-eared Owls (in winter on the western pastures).” This is by no means an exhaustive list, however. A curious birder or resident can comb the internet with a tool like eBird, which relies on citizen science to log recent sightings, or simply take a walk to see who is in the area throughout the seasons.
Spring & Summer
The Long Valley/Crowley Lake area is such an important bird area partly because it is home to unique and dwindling populations of certain species. Bank Swallows, alongside several other swallow species, maintain their southernmost colony left in California on the shores of Crowley Lake. Long Valley also famously supports one of the largest populations of Greater Sage-Grouse in the state, due to the area's low level of development which allows for seasonal migrations. The sage-grouse have several springtime lekking, or mating, sites in Long Valley, where the sagebrush tends to melt out sooner and irrigated pasturelands provide habitat for insects needed by the baby birds.
The sage-grouse is not the only sagebrush obligate, or sagebrush dependent, species that makes this area home in the warmer months. Sage Thrashers, Sagebrush Sparrows, and Brewer's Sparrow all are likely to be seen. The meadow's tendency to melt out sooner also makes it a refuge for returning songbirds, such as the Loggerhead Shrike, American Yellow Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee, among others, which can be heard singing in the sagebrush.
Right A small wren on a rock pile. Photo by Louis Medina
Fall & Winter
Shorebirds arrive by the hundreds, and occasionally thousands, in both the spring and the fall. The Snowy Plover, designated a “Priority Bird” by the Audubon Society, nests during the breeding season alongside the northern end of the lake and in the alkali lakes across the valley floor. Visitors are likely to see Wilson’s Phalarope and American Avocet among many others on the lake’s shores.
It might be surprising to find birds considered coastal, but many water birds, such as the American White Pelican, visit the lake after their breeding season. The lake is host to many gull species in the late fall, with the most numerous of this type being California Gulls, sometimes seen circling fishermen and looking for a snack, most likely coming or going from one of their largest rookeries at nearby Mono Lake. Other gull species on the lake include Ring-billed Gulls, the rare Herring Gull, and the even rarer Thayer's Gull.
Ducks and grebes have large breeding populations in the area, with the Crowley Lake area hosting thousands of ducks before the lake freezes, usually around late November through December. In the winter, a major part of the population of raptors in the Eastern Sierra lives in the grasslands of Long Valley, such as the threatened Ferruginous Hawk, the Northern Harrier, the Short-eared Owl, and the Long-eared Owl. Both Prairie Falcons and Peregrine Falcons breed in the area as well, and Crowley is home to the greatest population of wintering Bald Eagles in the Eastern Sierra.
Left Pelicans by Martin Powell
Losing Wetlands
The story of Crowley Lake and the surrounding irrigated meadows is not entirely one of harmony between humans and the birds who rely on this area, however. While irrigation in Long Valley partially mitigates wetland habitat loss, it unfortunately cannot replace entirely the rich wet meadow habitat that has been lost as a result of LADWP’s legacy in this area. The Yellow Rail serves as our very own local example of the effects of wetland habitat loss: the marsh bird was previously known to inhabit the area historically, but with the loss of wetland vegetation for the construction of the Crowley Lake Reservoir, the area cannot currently support the breeding of this secretive marsh bird. The Audubon Society proposes that with continued recovery of wet meadow ecosystems in the area, a breeding population could once again be possible; whereas LADWP’s continued dewatering of the ranchlands it leases out would work against the yellow rail now and into the future, as dust and wildfire threats would follow in their degraded habitat.
For the sake of the birds that rest and refresh their weary wings in Long Valley during their migration, this life-giving oasis must not be dewatered. It is critical that lovers of the Eastern Sierra, whether they be residents or visitors, protect the habitat these birds rely on. Before we can continue to improve habitat for these species, we have to first prevent further harm to this landscape by keeping Long Valley green.
Right Crowley Lake by EcoFlight
Learn More and Explore
You can learn more about the birds found in this area with Audubon's site report tool.
Explore the latest bird sightings in the Crowley Lake/Long Valley area with eBird and help local conservationists and birders by taking part in a bit of citizen science by logging your own sightings.
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April Wrap-Up:
It was a busy Earth Day month and weekend for Keep Long Valley Green!
Coalition organizer, Allison Weber, was on Mono County Earth Month's Eastern Sierra Activism Panel on April 6th. Allison represented Keep Long Valley Green alongside Jolie Varela of Indigenous Women Hike and Santiago Escruceria of the Mono Lake Committee. The panel discussion, put on by Mono County Free Library and High Sierra Energy Foundation, was recorded and can be seen for free on YouTube.
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On Earth Day proper, Saturday April 22nd, Without Water was shown as part of coalition member Friends of the Inyo's annual Owen's Lake Bird Festival in Lone Pine. Up the US 395, coalition volunteer, Olya Egorov, represented Keep Long Valley Green at the Bishop Paiute Tribe Earth Day & Spring Market Event at the Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center. At both events, many wonderful community members, whether local or visiting, answered our call for volunteers. Will you join them?
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Upcoming Events:
May 6th: Long Valley Bike Tour
Over the past year, Friends of the Inyo/Keep Long Valley Green have been engaging with Haley Fitzpatrick, a doctoral student of the University of Oslo, to discuss creative approaches to resilience in the Eastern Sierra. We are now excited to announce that Haley, as part of her work on Resilient Mountain Futures, is partnering with Keep Long Valley Green to host a FREE, easy, and interactive biking tour of Long Valley, Saturday May 6th, 2023 10:00am-1:00pm!
We are pleased to confirm that we will be continuing on bikes as planned! The roads are plowed and the weather is increasingly warmer. Join us for a fun, insightful and interactive Saturday morning adventure!
This tour will feature some outdoor exploration, mind-body movement, and discussion on local sustainability challenges and strategies for healthier rural/urban connections. We will have plenty of rest breaks full of great opportunities to ask questions, share stories with an interactive booklet, and hear inputs from local experts, including Allison Weber, Keep Long Valley Green Coalition Organizer and Policy Associate with Friends of the Inyo, Sally Manning, Environmental Director at Big Pine Paiute, and international sustainability scientist Professor Tobias Luthe with ETH Zurich.
What to bring:
- Bike. Please indicate in the Google form (link below) if you need assistance renting bikes
- Water, snacks and sunscreen
- Swim gear for a dip in the hot springs, if you are so inclined
- Curiosity and an open mind 😊
We will meet at 10:00 am on Saturday May 6th at the Green Church (34 Benton Crossing Road, Mammoth Lakes) and finish around 1:00pm. The bike route will be an easy, flat 11 miles from the Green Church up to Wild Willy’s/ Hilltop Hot Springs, over to the Hot Creek Geological Site and down to the Hot Creek Hatchery. Please note – we may experience some sections of dirt roads, but even city bikes should be fine going on them.
After the tour, we will head to a local eatery to grab lunch. If you are curious to stick around and continue the conversations over a delicious meal, please join us!
Please sign up here to confirm your RSVP by May 3rd:
About Haley:
Haley Fitzpatrick is PhD student in Systems-Oriented Design at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) in Norway, supervised by Prof. Dr. Tobias Luthe and Prof. Dr. Birger Sevaldson. She is researching how a systemic design approach can be used to co-create resilient and regenerative futures for mountain communities. Haley is actively engaging across three international communities – Ostana Italy, Hemsedal Norway, and the Eastern Sierra, California to explore how diverse places, cultures, and worldviews shape sustainability transformations. She also teaches courses on these topics at AHO and is a Design Associate at the real-world alpine laboratory MonViso Institute, where she facilitates outdoor, explorative events that focus on reconnecting humans with nature.
"Without Water" will be showing Saturday May 27th at 6pm at Stellar Brew in Mammoth Lakes. Afterwards will be storytelling, community brainstorming, and conversation. Let's talk about what we can do to Keep Long Valley Green!
Don't forget to stay tuned to Stellar Brew's Instagram for more information on their other monthly community events.
Without Water is Now Streaming Online!
Can't make it to a film festival showing Without Water? Good news- you can now watch our film for FREE, online, anytime!
Help us in a big way by doing something small: spread the message of Keep Long Valley Green by simply sending people in your contacts (and especially Los Angeles residents) the link to Without Water: https://youtu.be/ThJ9HW9yf-w
