Ranch prepares to house trout hatchery

LEE VINING, Calif. -- Beyond this tiniest of Eastern Sierra communities is a parcel of barren wilderness soon to be nourished by high-mountain snowmelt and teeming with colorful life.

Conway Ranch used to raise cattle. Now it’s the domain of coyotes, watched over by eagles and completely ignored by motorists whizzing by on U.S. 395.

But barring lengthy bureaucratic snags, it’ll soon house the region’s largest and most ambitious private trout hatchery.

The transformation has begun. Earthen raceways are dug. One is watered and brimming with fat rainbows, luring eagles to nearby power poles, perched like vultures.

Brown and cutthroat trout also will be raised here and stocked in area waters.

Meantime, the Inland Aquaculture Group of investors irons out details with Mono County, which haggles with LADWP, DFG, USFWS, NRCS, SCE, BLM and other agencies with ties to the land, water and wildlife.

The Inland Aquaculture Group is Tim Alpers, who sold his Owens River ranch and hatchery last December; John Frederickson, who owns concessions at June Lake and Crowley Lake; and Orange County businessman Steve Brown.

They’ve leased 835 acres of property purchased recently by Mono County with $2 million in grant money.

Dan Lyster, director of economic development for Mono County, hopes the project will be a boon to the region. After all, visiting anglers -- most of them from the Southern California area -- account for 60% of the Eastern Sierra economy, according to one study.

Alpers, whose namesake rainbows have become internationally famous, says this operation will replace that with which he helped transform the region into a trophy-trout paradise.

“Same business, different location,” Alpers boasts of a facility that’ll annually stock 45,000 pounds of trout and feature a park-like atmosphere and educational and interpretive tours.

So far there has been no major opposition, Lyster says.

To be sure, it seems a more appropriate use of the land than that envisioned previously by developers. They’d aspired to build a condo complex, golf course and fly-fishing ranch.

“The board thought that might be a bad fit,” Lyster says.

Troubled waters

Outdoors enthusiasts are encouraged to visit the new Gulf of California exhibit and film at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

The aquarium has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness to growing threats caused by development.

Cabo San Lucas has become an unsightly mega-cluster of hotels, condos, time shares and golf courses. Similar development has spread throughout the Los Cabos corridor.

Now the East Cape region, a once-sleepy fishing paradise 60 miles to the north, is undergoing a similar transformation.

High-priced lots are parceled along the waterfront. New marinas are being dredged, and golf courses -- with all that poisonous runoff -- are planned or already materializing atop the desert landscape.

Aquarium President Jerry Schubel hopes Baja tourists will frequent only eco-friendly establishments and avoid purchasing property in sensitive areas.

In a recent interview, he said, “Do we really want to lose the qualities that have attracted people there for decades? I don’t think we want every place in the world to look like Southern California.”

And to think that not long ago over-fishing seemed the only real threat to one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems.

Everest back on line

The Olympic flame last week attained the summit of Mt. Everest, relay-style, involving Tibetans and Han Chinese, symbolizing harmony and peace, according to one climber.

All well and good, but the endeavor has been a major headache for expedition leaders who had been banned from scaling the world’s highest mountain until the torch run was complete.

About two dozen expeditions and thousands of dollars were lost, as base camp became crowded with climbers waiting for the ban to be lifted, which it was late last week.

So forget the Games. The refrain now echoing through the Himalayas? “Let the climbing begin.”

Divers to the rescue

More than $120,000 was raised during the recent Chamber Day fundraiser to benefit the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber.

As if to underscore the importance of maintaining a chamber on Santa Catalina Island, a participant suffered the bends and required quick treatment.

Chairman Ken Kurtis reports:

“Our divers put him on oxygen immediately, the captain radioed Baywatch, they came out to do an assessment, and he was whisked off to the chamber . . . and treated to full resolution.”

About 300 divers participated in Chamber Day.

And finally

Ventura-based Island Packers, which transports campers, hikers, bird-watchers and surf-fishermen to and from the northern Channel Islands, turned 40 last Sunday.

By coincidence I was aboard one of the high-speed catamarans bound for Santa Cruz Island.

We cruised alongside a mother humpback whale and her calf, mingled with common dolphins and, finally, disembarked at Prisoner’s Harbor.

Using trout rods, my brother and I caught calico bass and mackerel from the beach -- a first for us -- and hiked among towering trees and chattering birds.

Our escort home was a large pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins. It was quite the celebration.

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pete.thomas@latimes.com