NEWS ADVISORY 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Heidi Hopkins, policy director

April 9, 1997 760-647-6595

Agreement Reached on Mono Basin Restoration Plan

Lee Vining, CA. Yesterday, the Mono Lake Committee and ten other diverse parties agreed on the final details of an agreement with the L. A. Department of Water and Power (DWP) on restoration plans for the Mono Basin. "This tentative settlement represents a significant step in the 20-year effort to protect and restore Mono Lake," said Martha Davis, Mono Lake Committee board member and key figure in the negotiations. If approved by the State Water Resources Control Board, the agreement will guide restoration efforts at the lake for the next 20 years and beyond.

"The Mono Basin Restoration Plan has been over two years in the making. We hope the restoration it describes will be able to undo 50 years of damage," said Ed Manning, chairman of the Committee board of directors.

In 1994, the State Water Board found that fifty years of DWP diversions from Mono Lake’s tributary streams had caused extensive damage to the lake’s ecosystem. The Board ruled unanimously that DWP must curtail its future water diversions from the Mono Basin and allow Mono Lake to rise 17 feet. In addition, the Board ordered DWP to implement measures to restore the lake’s former rich stream and waterfowl habitats.

In the early part of this century, prior to DWP water diversions from the basin, Mono Lake offered a major resting stop for migrating waterfowl. Millions of ducks and other waterfowl used the lake and the lake-fringing stream bottomlands for refueling during their annual migration. A significant population of California gulls arrived annually to nest on the lake’s islands. Fish thrived in the lake’s tributary streams.

DWP’s diversion of the lake’s tributary streams led to a drastic fall in the lake level and destruction of stream and waterfowl habitat. Land bridges emerged, connecting the islands to the mainland and exposing gull nests to predation.

The 1994 State Water Board decision ensured that the lake level would rise, itself the most important means of restoring lost habitat. The Mono Basin Restoration Plan agreed to this week will help jump-start restoration of the stream and bottomland habitat that was vital to the health of the Mono Basin’s waterfowl, fish and other wildlife.

The restoration measures described in the agreement are directed toward restoring the four streams from which DWP diverts water to Los Angeles, as well as waterfowl habitat around the lake. The key thrust of the plans is to restore the natural processes that created the Mono Basin’s stream and waterfowl habitats in the first place.

The settlement creates the Mono Basin Waterfowl Habitat Restoration Foundation to administer a $3.6 million fund established by DWP. Five of the parties to the agreement, including the Mono Lake Committee, National Audubon Society, U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Fish & Game, and State Lands Commission/Department of Parks and Recreation, will serve as initial members of the Foundation. The settlement agreement includes provisions to add other interested parties to the Foundation.

In addition to the Mono Lake Committee, parties to the settlement include entities who have participated in the Mono Lake proceedings for years – California Trout, National Audubon Society, U.S. Forest Service, State Lands Commission, California Department of Fish & Game, California Department of Parks and Recreation – as well as several who had joined the proceedings recently because of their interest in the restoration plans. These latter include the Bureau of Land Management and the Trust for Public Land, among others.

The next steps are for the parties to the settlement and DWP to seek formal approval from their governing boards for the settlement agreement and State Water Board approval in May. Click here to see a recent Mono Lake Newsletter article on this topic.

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The Mono Lake Committee is a nonprofit citizens group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.