The Los Angeles Aqueduct is a fixture in the Mono Basin, and few here can remember a time before it existed. Today it remains at the center of issues with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP), especially as the three-year anniversary approaches of the effort to implement restoration streamflows that will heal the damage done by decades of excessive water diversions enabled by the aqueduct.

A view of Rush Creek from Mono Lake, which should receive high flows critical for restoration and required by the State Water Board. Photo by Arya Degenhardt, with aerial support by LightHawk.

For the Mono Lake Committee, the aqueduct and the water it diverts from Mono Lake’s tributary streams have always been an important focus, but in years past the issue was how much water was inside that buried concrete pipeline to Los Angeles—and how much remained in the Mono Basin for the lake and streams. That was settled with the landmark 1994 State Water Resources Control Board decision, which established a long-term, ecologically-sound management level for the lake, created a restoration program for the desiccated streams, and allocated continued water for export.

Now, after a decade of study and with the summary report from the State Water Board’s expert stream scientists in hand, the physical aqueduct infrastructure has become the focal issue (more…)

For the last week the streets of Lee Vining have been overtaken by heavy equipment and construction workers, all to complete one of the last stretches of Digital 395, the stimulus-funded project that will provide high-speed broadband internet to communities between Barstow and Carson City.

This view from the Lee Vining Webcam on May 8 at 11:55am shows Digital 395 construction in the center of Highway 395 ... along with much-needed rain clouds!

In fact, if you’ve logged into the Lee Vining Webcam recently, you will have seen the “ditch witch” drilling right in the middle of (more…)

Just now we got a press release from the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District about the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s recent air quality lawsuit. The first sentence reads:

“Today, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s high-profile lawsuit against the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District and other environmental agencies was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.”

Here is the rest of the press release: (more…)

Volunteers count California Gull nests at Mono Lake. Photo by Russ Taylor.

You are on a rocky volcanic island surrounded by an alkaline sea. Your only protection from the high-desert sun is your khaki-colored Mono Lake Committee logo bucket hat. It’s also your only protection against the frenzied California Gulls flying every which way and trying, as you suspect, to whitewash you with an airborne “splat!” (more…)

Last year at this time the Bodie Foundation had just implemented a fee collection system at Old Marina, which proved to be the solution to keeping the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve open and operating after it had been included on the state park closure list in 2011.

Visitors near the iron ranger at Old Marina, where the $3 per car fee goes. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

Beginning this summer, State Parks will assume responsibility for the self-pay parking fee system at Old Marina, reaffirming its commitment to keeping the State Natural Reserve open. All fees collected (more…)

Looking to land the big one? Or just looking for another big fish tale? As spring’s rejuvenating sunshine melts the ice in the Eastern Sierra’s many beautiful alpine lakes, another great fishing season begins this Saturday, April 27. Mono County’s lakes and reservoirs are fully stocked with Alpers Trout from our neighbors at Conway Ranch, located just north of Mono Lake.

Upper Rush Creek between Silver Lake and Grant Lake Reservoir is a great place to fish. Photo by Elin Ljung.

Angling has long held a special place in our hearts here at the Mono Lake Committee. In 1984, long after the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) diverted four of Mono Lake’s tributaries to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a local fly fisherman (more…)

Alert Mono Lake Committee members let us know that the Eastern Sierra—in particular, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Owens Lake, 120 miles south of Mono Lake—was a feature story in this edition of All Things Considered. The story, titled “Owens Valley Salty As Los Angeles Water Battle Flows Into Court” is available in text and audio, and starts with an observation Mono Lake enthusiasts know well: “In the West, fights over water last a long time.”

National Public Radio: Owens Valley Salty As Los Angeles Water Battle Flows Into Court

Starting at around 7:00pm last night, when the new LA Times article featuring Mono Lake Committee Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin and Eastern Sierra Policy Director Lisa Cutting—“DWP seeks truce in water wars as L.A. Aqueduct nears 100″—hit, things have been abuzz here at the Mono Lake Committee headquarters in Lee Vining.

The online version of the LA Times article has a photo gallery, shown here. Photos by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times.

The article touches on three different Eastern Sierra issues, among them is one that Mono Lake Committee members know we’ve been working on for quite some time—getting the LA Aqueduct (more…)

It’s official! Peak 12,240 on the border between Yosemite National Park and the Inyo National Forest is now named Mt. Andrea Lawrence, thanks to legislation signed into law last week by President Obama.

The newly named Mt. Andrea Lawrence, center, on the boundary of Yosemite National Park, January 2013. Photo by Geoffrey McQuilkin.

The prominent but previously unnamed peak, which has been visited by several Mono Lake Committee staff members since the naming effort began, has sweeping views across Yosemite, the upper San Joaquin River drainage, and the Rush Creek–Mono (more…)

Number 2 on our Top Ten highlights list is the intensive process of planning for a 21st century aqueduct that can deliver restoration flows to Mono Lake’s tributaries at the times they need it the most, deliver water to Mono Lake so it can rise to the management level of 6392 feet above sea level, as well as efficiently export water to Los Angeles.

An aerial view of Rush Creek, the Rush Creek return ditch, and Grant Lake Reservoir, which are key to the 21st century aqueduct discussions. Photo by Geoffrey McQuilkin.

If you’ve been following the Mono Lake Newsletter, you’ll know that the Committee has been working intensively on this process for nearly two years. (more…)