Eastern Sierra Policy
Protecting and Restoring the Mono Basin

The Mono Lake Committee's local policy work in the Mono Basin and Eastern Sierra is an important way we work to protect and restore the Mono Basin ecosystem.

Our protection work requires us to speak strongly on behalf of Mono Lake. When the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to strip air quality protection from Mono Lake, Committee members spoke at hearings and sent thousands of letters of opposition, Committee staff developed detailed technical opposition filings, and the EPA subsequently abandoned the effort.

The Committee also pursues proactive protection opportunities. For example, lack of funding for conservation programs at Mono Lake and across the Sierra has been a huge obstacle to sound management, and the Committee played a key role in Sacramento in creating the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency now awarding grants for critical local projects.

In recent years, the lands around Mono Lake have increasingly faced threats from poorly planned land development and subdivision. In response, the Committee has undertaken a rigorous analysis of the balance between local economic sustainability and the impacts of large scale land development on ecological integrity, established legislative protections, and preserved the unique experience of the Mono Basin's rural, open spaces.