Natural History Wanderings

California Fall Color posted its first fall leaf report of the season. Below is the summary. See full report at Eastern Sierra Shows Early Color.

• 0 – 10% – Bishop – Fremont Cottonwood that populate Bishop are deep green and healthy.
• 10 – 50% – Lake Sabrina, Middle Fork Bishop Creek – On the lower end of this scale, color is beginning to paint slopes from 9,200′ up to 10,000′.  Aspen below the dam are speckled with gold.
• 10 – 50% – South Fork Bishop Creek – A hillside of aspen have turned yellow between Table Mountain and Willow campgrounds.  Most of the aspen are deep green and will turn on schedule from late Sept. to mid Oct.
• 0 – 10% – June Lake Loop – A few aspen are showing spots of color.
• 0 – 10% – Walker River, Walker, Coleville – Fremont cottonwood look healthy and deeply green.
• 10 – 50% – Monitor Pass –  The aspen atop the pass are suffering, partly because this is a windswept area with poor nutrients and due to a fungus that has spotted leaves.  Several trees have lost leaves and appear to be struggling.
• 0 – 10% – Carson Pass – The aspen throughout most of the Hope Valley look healthy and full of green leaves, though a few stands near Sorensen’s Resort have lost half their leaves due to the same fungus afflicting those on Monitor Pass.