Wild Willy's Hot Tubs are located on Public Lands in the Long Valley Caldera of the Eastern Sierra.  Two tubs exist within close proximity of one another and are fed by two individual spring sources.  These hot springs are very popular with locals of the Eastern Sierra and with tourists who have discovered these precious resources.  In 2002 alone, 30,000 users visited these tubs.

Photo taken in 1994

Surrounding these hot tubs are wet alkali meadows and Great Basin Sagebrush /Bitterbrush plant communities.  Prior to 1996, the tubs could be accessed by vehicles. At certain times of the year these vehicles had to portage through the wet meadows to reach the tubs.  Vehicular access to the hot springs caused new roads to be formed which heavily impacted the meadows.

 

 

In 1996, a project was started by the BLM to try and mitigate some of the environmental problems that were occurring around the hot springs. 

The first stage of the project was to establish a parking area to remove the vehicle impact to the meadow system.  Boulders and powerpoles were used to create the boundary of the parking area.  The road was ripped which loosened and aerated the soil. Alkali Cordgrass plugs were transplanted into the road in order to restore the meadow species.

The wet meadow to the east of the parking lot continued to pose a problem with visitors trying to access the tubs.  A plan was formed in 1998 to create a boardwalk/causeway system to elevate the visitor over the meadow while allowing the meadow system to function properly.

Photo taken in 2001

 The boardwalk construction began in the summer of1998 with the help from the BLM fire crew, Native Plant Society, and other local interest groups. The completion of the first phase of the boardwalk was completed in the summer of 1998.

Following the boardwalk, projects continued in the Wild Willy's area. Alkali cordgrass plugs continued to be planted in the disturbed area of the old road. The road going into Wild Willy's had been graded and repaired to help reduce erosional problems. Unneccessary roads had been ripped for aeration and rocked off to allow the native vegetation to regrow in the disturbed areas. In 2002, a rock step trail was built to the tub in order to elevate people over the meadow and to allow the vegetation along the spring source to revegetate.

Photo taken in 2002

In 2003, an extension to the boardwalk/causeway was designed by the Inyo National Forest trails and engineering department. In the spring of 2003, an Inyo National Forest trails crew along with BLM staff, volunteers from the eastern Sierra Chapter of the Sierra Club, a California Department of Forestry crew, and many other volunteers, began construction on the causeway extension. With a lot of hard work, sweat, and motivation, the causeway was completed in approximately 2 weeks.

Photo taken in 2003

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