The Fish Lake Valley is a 25 miles (40 km) long endorheic valley in southwest Nevada , one of many contiguous inward-draining basins collectively called the Great Basin . The alluvial valley lies just northwest of Death Valley and borders the southeast, and central-northeast flank of the massif of the White Mountains of California . The southwestern portion of the valley lies in California , with the southern tip at the edge of Inyo County east of the Chocolate Mountains, and a significant portion of the south end of the valley floor including the ranching community of Oasis , in Mono County . The valley is sparsely populated, primarily with ranchers and indigenous Paiute . The valley's Post Office and commercial services are located in the town of Dyer .
7-494: Fish Lake Valley is a slightly southwest–northeast trending valley, in its northern and central section. It borders the White Mountains on the southwest and receives water from Cottonwood Creek and other small, permanent mountain streams. The extension of the mountains southeasterly provides a feeder valley with some small dry lakes and salt pans. The major section of the valley contains a borax mixed salt pan for 10 mi of
14-516: A woodland of pinyon pine and juniper , and finally into sagebrush as the stream ends in endorheic Fish Lake Valley which is one of the contiguous collection of inward-draining basins that make up the Great Basin . Cottonwood Creek has no native fish, however its North Fork is a refuge for the threatened Paiute cutthroat trout , one of the rarest trout in North America. This subspecies
21-593: Is in the hills adjacent the valley's north border. Fish Lake & Fish Lake Marsh Map Cottonwood Creek (Inyo County, California) Cottonwood Creek originates in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forests of the White Mountains of eastern California . The creek flows eastward from below the 14,000-foot (4,300 m) alpine crest of the White Mountains and descends through groves of bristlecone pine , aspen and mountain mahogany , then
28-489: Is located at the northern border of the Fish Lake Valley. Nevada State Route 264 enters the valley's center west at the foothills of the White Mountains and at Dyer turns southeast at the feeder valley and foothills of the mountains; its terminus point is Oasis, Mono County, California . Nevada State Route 773 intercepts Route 264 in the hills on the Fish Lake Valley northwest border. U.S. Route 6 at Coaldale, Nevada
35-607: The White Mountains, and thru block faulting creating the smaller feeder valley on the White Mountains' southeast, (the Furnace Creek Fault Zone ). The center-north of the valley has very narrow fans, and broken salt flats, that end at the valley's central dry lake. Lower elevation hills and peaks at the north of the Silver Peak Range are the east and northeast border. Coaldale, Nevada on east–west U.S. Route 6 in Nevada
42-504: The valley. A small dry lake is in the center, approximately 1.5 mi long. It is fed from the White Mountains, and the small subvalley southeastwards. Alluvial fans are west of the dry lake, with Nevada State Route 264 in the hills to the northwest that also feed southeast and eastwards. To the east and southeast, the Silver Peak Range borders the valley with no alluvial fans, and is the smaller massif probably block faulted from
49-504: Was transplanted from its very limited native range, upper Silver King Creek in the Carson River basin. The remainder of the stream hosts (originally) transplanted brook , brown and rainbow trout. A riparian willow and cottonwood habitat supports protected bird species such as the Yellow warbler , Yellow-breasted chat , Prairie falcon , and Cooper's hawk . The river is managed by
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