The big earthmovers are rolling again at Lee Vining Airport this week, even though the runway is newly flattened and paved and new lighting is nearly complete. Their goal now is to remedy one of the major unexpected consequences of the runway rehabilitation project: an obtrusive 10-acre material stockpile located beyond the north end of the runway.

Material is being relocated to the oversized drainage ditch on the west side of the runway. Photo by Geoff McQuilkin.

The height and size of the stockpile raised substantial concerns from local residents, visitors, and the Mono Lake Committee due to the impacts on (more…)

The Bodie Hills, just north of Mono Lake, are a spectacular place that are receiving attention as a possible area for National Monument designation. Discussions are quite preliminary, but the Los Angeles Times has a nice article, video, and photo set reviewing the 14 locations up for consideration by the Interior Department—look for the Bodie Hills feature and Lee Vining locals in the video!

LA Times: National monuments? Maybe they will be

We’ve been receiving calls and inquiries about a large earth construction that has been growing on the hill across from Lee Vining over the past two weeks. The questions are pretty simple: what is that, why is it happening–and is it needed? We’ve been asking questions, and here’s what we’ve found out so far.

View of airport earthworks from Highway 395

Question number one is easy to answer: the project taking place is the rehabilitation of the Lee Vining airport. Yes, Lee Vining has an airport. We’re (more…)

The Chronicle has an article on state parks following the Governor’s mid-May budget revision.

Don’t miss our posting in The Mono-logue as well.

San Francisco Chronicle: Budget proposal gives state parks hope

Governor Schwarzenegger has released his mid-May revised budget proposal. Somewhat unexpectedly, it included some funding for the State Park system. Previously the Governor had proposed zeroing out the budget for parks and providing funding through offshore oil lease revenues. However, he no longer supports such drilling.

The proposal provides funding at levels similar to 2008–2009, raising hopes that park closures and major cutbacks to parks are not in the cards for the year ahead. That would be good for parks and for California since state park visitation is a major tourism activity that produces net revenue for the state.

But (more…)

Governor Schwarzenegger is expected to release his state budget proposal for 2010-2011 later today. The budget is expected to extensively cut many state programs in light of a $20 billion deficit.

We’re watching to see what the funding proposal is for the Department of Parks and Recreation, with a specific interest in the state parks at Mono Lake and Bodie. The state park system is a net revenue generator for the state of California but last year the governor proposed closing the large majority of the system.

Fishing opener April 24, is a busy time for Lee Vining and the region, but this year there’s quite a bit of local concern about whether streams and lakes will be stocked with fish. The Department of Fish & Game (DFG) has announced a new pre-stocking evaluation process that is causing quite a bit of consternation because it is holding up stocking efforts. The process requires reviewing each water for conflicts between trout and resident sensitive species.

Fishing opener is April 24 and Mono Basin streams are being stocked. Photo by Elin Ljung.

Here in the Mono Basin, most routinely-stocked lakes and streams have already been cleared to be stocked, including Rush, Lee Vining, and Mill creeks; Lundy Lake; Grant Lake, and (more…)

State Water Board, stream scientists, DWP, Mono Lake Committee, Mammoth Flyrodders, and Caltrout representatives at a meeting in Sacramento where the "Synthesis Report" was presented. Photo courtesy of Bob Vestal.

Mono Lake Committee staff and experts are hard at work reviewing the recently released draft “Synthesis of Instream Flow Recommendations” report.

The report is based on over a decade of supporting studies, monitoring, and detailed field work by the State Water Board-appointed expert stream scientists. The recommendations are a critical (more…)

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has announced a public meeting to discuss concepts for building large scale solar power generation facilities in the Eastern Sierra. The meeting will be held in Bishop on Monday, January 11, at 7 pm at the United Methodist Church.

The Committee has been tracking this concept very closely as it has a number of major implications for the future management of the city’s lands and water resources throughout the Eastern Sierra.

I’ll be attending the Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) open house Thursday January 7 from 4-6pm in advance of the LADWP presentation and urge anyone interested to do so as well. It will be a good opportunity to share information and ideas. The details of the ESLT event are available here.

Pieces of the proposal have been reported on here:

Sierra Wave article, December 1, 2009

LA Times article, December 2, 2009

LA Times article, December 18, 2009

Mono Lake’s Spirochaeta americana is on Cosmos Magazine’s list of eight “impressive examples of life lived at the extreme.” Have a look and enjoy exploring the rest of the roster!

Eight animals that live on the edge