DWP has embarked on its first year of Water Board-ordered restoration. Late last year, DWP circulated its Mono Basin Implementation Plan, an administrative document that spells out DWP’s many restoration responsibilities over the coming decades. As part of the plan, DWP is offering semi-annual meetings at which monitoring results and the upcoming season’s restoration activities will be discussed by interested parties. The first meeting, tentatively scheduled for this April, will be an important time to clarify elements of the Water Board order on restoration that were not fully defined. See page 3 for more details.

In its decision on waterfowl restoration, the Water Board focused on enhancing waterfowl habitat at the north shore’s County Ponds and ordered DWP to pay up to $250,000 for this purpose. County Ponds are natural depressions that emerged when the lake dropped below 6405 feet and that collect irrigation run-off from historic Dechambeau Ranch. The Forest Service, the current owner, rewatered the ponds in 1998 with its historic Mill Creek diversion right. In 1999, the Forest Service expects to develop a plan for the area that describes the "desired condition" and management prescription to enhance the area’s cultural and wildlife benefits. The Committee supports the work and wants to ensure that the Forest Service uses the water diverted from Mill Creek with maximum efficiency for the benefit of waterfowl at the County Ponds.

Even though scientists recommended restoring Mill Creek, the Water Board did not approve further study of the proposal, which it deemed to be outside the scope of its proceeding. This decision does not close the door on increasing flows in Mill Creek, but it means there won’t be major action at this time. Mill Creek is the primary source of water for a number of diverse landscapes in the north Mono Basin that currently are undergoing ownership or land management changes. The Committee’s involvement with these properties—the Conway Ranch, County Ponds (see previous paragraph)—will be to serve as a strong, continuing voice for water efficiencies, allowing protection of existing historic values and water for the natural riparian, fishery, and waterfowl habitats supported by Mill Creek.

A conceptual plan for commercial development in the Scenic Area that was floated by the Forest Service has triggered a close examination of how the Scenic Area Private Property Guidelines apply to new commercial development in the Mono Basin. The key issue is how the strict building limitations imposed on residential landowners apply to commercial developments. The Committee currently is reviewing the guidelines. The guideline examination is timely, as Mono Lake’s rise is definitely heightening commercial interest in Mono Lake.

Mono Lake and its watershed are exciting laboratories for ecological and restoration research because of the increased lake level and streamflows mandated by the Water Board decision. We have a very incomplete understanding of how rapid changes in the lake level and streamflows affect ecological functioning. This summer, the annual gull monitoring work will be expanded to include research on ecological mechanisms linking changes in the lake and gull breeding productivity. Alkalai fly monitoring, which is not occurring this year, is also critical, and we hope to help fund it in the future. The Committee hopes to support the many lines of research that must occur to increase our understanding and inform the adaptive management of the watershed. We want to see that these different lines of research can be integrated and effectively communicated to managers and the general public. Click here for more info.

DWP’s Mono Basin Implementation Plan calls for volunteer help with plantings. While the stream restoration plan recommends a five-year moratorium on planting along much of the rewatered streams, pending monitoring results of natural regeneration, the plan identifies plantings on certain higher areas of the floodplain, where natural regeneration is more difficult. The Committee is organizing several volunteer planting days in June and September.

Caltrans is engaged in a number of projects in the Mono Basin. In 2000, the agency plans to widen the two-lane stretch of Highway 395 south of Lee Vining to four lanes (five lanes for the quarter-mile between Highway 120 and Lee Vining). In addition, Caltrans will widen the highway along Mono Lake north of Lee Vining, creating eight-foot shoulders and improving several turnouts for better viewing of the lake. Separately, the town of Lee Vining has secured funds to plan a "Main Street" project, focused on visual improvements and pedestrian safety. Because the highway widening projects on either side of town will likely increase the speed of traffic in town, the Main Street improvements are timely, and will be designed to counter this increase. The Committee is participating in the town planning process.

Committee staff continue to directly monitor the streams, particularly during the peak flow period. We monitor groundwater levels at a number of established "piezometers" (hollow, 6" pipe sunk into the ground that allow the relative height of the water table to be measured). We also observe and photograph the streams during the peak (or peaks) noting any threshold events such as channel abandonment and sediment movement. Scientists monitoring the streams for DWP utilize our data and observational notes in their yearly analyses.

A flurry of gravel pit proposals have been brought before the Mono County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The existing pits, which operators are seeking to expand, straddle Rush Creek. The Committee does not oppose the existing gravel pits, which were in operation before the Scenic Area was established. But our message to Mono County is that it needs to view such expansion proposals in a long-term context. Mining is an element of the economy—but so are the resource values of Rush Creek and the spectacular views across the Mono Basin.

Bird migration is at best a risky business. Today, migration conditions are aggravated not only by the significant loss of historic wetlands during the last century, but also by contamination and impoverishment of prey populations at the wetlands that remain. Mono Lake is one of a number of western Great Basin lakes that provide critical food and shelter along the way. A key starting point in learning what humans can do to enhance birds’ chances for safe passage on inherently risky annual journeys is to assemble the facts. In the spring and fall volunteers participate in shorebird counts along the entire lakeshore, which help monitor shorebird and waterfowl numbers. Click here for more info.

A new monitoring site is being developed by the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District on Mono’s east shore to help assess progress towards air quality attainment. Air quality samplers will soon be installed to assess particulate pollution due to wind storms. The Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District is in charge of monitoring air quality progress as the lake rises. While many sites that previously generated dust storms have improved with the rising lake (due to coverage both by water and by new vegetation), others continue to be a problem, sending up huge dust plumes on windy days. Click here for more background.

Late last year, the Forest Service began implementing its five-year-old facility development plan for South Tufa. Toilets were installed last fall. Other planned upgrades, which will be installed in 1999 and beyond, include shaded picnic tables, an upgraded trail system and paving of the road and parking lot. At the Committee’s request, given the lag between the approval of the plan in 1993 and implementation in 1999, Forest Service has agreed to review the proposed development.

In 1997, the Forest Service began charging fees at the Scenic Area Visitor Center and at South Tufa as part of the Congressionally mandated Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. The legislative intent of the "Fee Demo" program is "to demonstrate the feasibility of user-generated cost recovery for the operation and maintenance of recreation areas or sites and habitat enhancement projects on Federal lands." In 1999, the program will be evaluated. Committee comments on the program will focus on how the Forest Service intends to use the fee revenue. We believe the Forest Service should devote fees to restoration and interpretation, not to facility development.

In 1998, Point Reyes Bird Observatory and the Bureau of Land Management spearheaded a riparian breeding songbird study in the Eastern Sierra. The first season of data collection showed a trend towards greater breeding-bird diversity and a greater percentage of key riparian species (such as the Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, and Song Sparrow) in the more northerly study sites, including the Mono Basin. This may be due to the broader riparian areas found along the more northern streams. Committee staff participated in volunteer surveys, which comprised one element of the full study.

Return to Spring 1999 Newsletter

Copyright © 1996-2007, Mono Lake Committee. Last Updated January 07, 2007