Template:Short description Template:Infobox mountain
The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States.<ref name="gnis">Template:Cite gnis</ref> The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately Template:Convert south-southeast from the southern end of the White Mountains, from which they are separated by Westgard Pass, to the east of Owens Lake.
Geologically, the mountains are a fault block range in the Basin and Range Province, at the western end of the Great Basin. They are considered to be among the most important and best-known Late Proterozoic to Cambrian sections in the United States.<ref>Localities of the Cambrian: White-Inyo Mountains</ref>
WildernessEdit
Most of the mountain range (Template:Convert) is designated as the Inyo Mountain Wilderness, managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the south and the United States Forest Service in the north.<ref>Inyo Mountains Wilderness - Wilderness Connect</ref> The USFS manages Template:Convert of the wilderness all within Inyo National Forest.<ref>Inyo Mountains Wilderness - Inyo National Forest</ref>
Wildlife in the area includes the endangered Inyo Mountains salamander and the desert bighorn sheep.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Plant communities include creosote and sagebrush at lower altitudes, and bristlecone pine forests at higher altitudes.<ref>Inyo Mountains Wilderness - Wilderness Connect</ref> A number of rare and endemic plants are adapted to the unique limestone soils of the mountains, including the cliffdweller,<ref>CNPS: Caulostramina</ref> bristlecone cryptantha,<ref>CNPS: Cryptantha roosiorum</ref> and Inyo rock daisy.<ref>CNPS: Perityle inyoensis</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Inyo Mountain Wilderness - BLM