Introduction

For all practical purposes, the fishes of the White Mountains are introduced species. It is unlikely that native species ever existed in these mountains except in the very lowest reaches of either easterly or westerly drainages.

Perhaps the terms introduced species and native species should be clarified. When Europeans first arrived in the Owens Valley, only four fishes were found there, all of them considered nongame species: the Owens Pupfish (Cyprinodon radiosus Miller), Owens Chub (Gila bicolor snyderi Miller), Owens Dace (Rhinichthys osculus sp.), and Owens Sucker (Catostomus fumeiventris Miller). On the east side of the range, in Fish Lake Valley, only a chub (Gila sp.) was found. These constitute the native fish fauna of the White Mountains area, and through many years of neglect only one of them, the Owens Sucker, now occurs in abundance. The others are endangered, threatened, or of undetermined status. Recovery programs are in progress for the endangered and threatened fauna, under the provisions of the federal and state endangered species acts.

The streams flowing from the White Mountains are spring-fed. Being a desert range, the White Mountains seldom hold the summer snowbanks that typify the Sierra Nevada, just a few miles to the west. Once the winter snows have melted, the stream flows quickly stabilize except during occasional summer thundershowers.

A glance at a map of the Inyo National Forest reveals a large number of streams flowing from the crest of the White Mountains. However, only a few of them contain significant fish populations, and these generally only in the upper reaches. The vast majority of these streams, whether they flow east or west, have for many years been diverted for irrigation.