Inyo National Forest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Inyo National Forest | |
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IUCN Category VI (Managed Resource Protected Area)
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| Location | Eastern Sierra Nevada Range |
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| Nearest city | Bishop, California |
| Coordinates | 37°51′10″N 118°17′10″W / 37.85278°N 118.28611°WCoordinates: 37°51′10″N 118°17′10″W / 37.85278°N 118.28611°W |
| Area | 1.9 million acres (7700 km²)[1] |
| Established | May, 1907 |
| Governing body | USDA / U.S. Forest Service |
| Website | Inyo National Forest |
Inyo National Forest is a federally protected forest in the United States. It is mostly located in California 1,839,887 acres (7,445.76 km2), but has a small section in western Nevada of 60,656 acres (245.47 km2).[1] It stretches from the eastern side of Yosemite to south of Sequoia National Park. Geographically it is split in two, with each part roughly serving as a border of Owens Valley, the Mammoth Lakes region and the Mono Lake region. A majority of the forest is federally protected wilderness, including part of the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
The name "Inyo" comes from a Native American word meaning "dwelling place of the great spirit." It was used by local Native Americans to describe the local mountains, now known as the Inyo Mountains, to early settlers of the area. The Inyo National Forest was named after Inyo County, California, in which much of the Forest resides.[2] It is located in parts of Inyo, Mono, Tulare, and Madera counties in California, and Esmeralda and Mineral counties in Nevada. Forest headquarters are located in Bishop, California. There are local ranger district offices in Bishop, Lee Vining, Lone Pine, and Mammoth Lakes.[3] The forest was established on May 25, 1907. On July 1, 1945 land from the former Mono National Forest was added.[4]
The Forest also harbors an estimated 238,000 acres (96,000 ha) of old-growth forests[5]. The most abundant trees in these forests are Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) and Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi), but these are not the most fascinating. Somewhere on its high-elevation slopes and ridges, at an undisclosed location, is "Methuselah", a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) that is the oldest non-clonal living tree on earth, over 4,839 years old[6].
[edit] Destinations
Popular within Inyo National Forest are:
- Mono Lake
- Tioga Lake
- Tioga Pass
- June Lake
- Lone Pine
- Mammoth Lakes
- Mount Whitney
- Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Inyo National Forest". U.S. National Forest Campground Guide. http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/pacficsw/inyoinfo.htm.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Inyo National Forest. US Forest Service. http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/faq/. Retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- ^ USFS Ranger Districts by State
- ^ Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United StatesPDF (341 KB), Forest History Society
- ^ Warbington, Ralph; Beardsley, Debby (2002), 2002 Estimates of Old Growth Forests on the 18 National Forests of the Pacific Southwest Region, United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/publications/oldgrowth/oldgrowth2002.html
- ^ "Pinus longaeva". Gymnosperm database. http://www.conifers.org/pi/pin/longaeva.htm.
