Following its March 17 meeting, the State Water Board has announced a series of workshops, starting in June, to collect information on the condition of the Mono Basin’s Public Trust resources and evaluate potential management options. At the workshops, experts will presenting new data collected since the Board issued its first decision to raise Mono Lake in 1994.
The public is welcome to register to watch via Zoom. No decisions will be made during the workshops, but registering and tuning in will show support for Mono Lake.
The first topics are lake limnology and ecosystem health, including salinity trends, problems with lake stratification, the status of brine shrimp and alkali flies, and the condition of the millions of migratory and nesting birds that rely on Mono Lake. Scientists who study these topics will make presentations and take questions. Additional workshops at the end of summer will cover topics including air quality, LA water resources, and diversion reduction options. The Board will hear input from the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe through a direct consultation process.
The workshops will be a status check on the Public Trust resources that have been damaged and impaired by 85 years of DWP water diversions. The information gathered will inform preparations for the State Water Board hearing on diversions.
State Water Board workshops
Mono Lake Public Workshop 1:
Water Quality, Salinity, Brine Shrimp, & Alkali Flies
Thursday, June 4, 2026
10:00am to 12:00pm
(2 hours)
Mono Lake Public Workshop 2:
California Gulls & Other Migratory Birds
Thursday, June 25, 2026
9:00am to 12:00pm
(3 hours)
Extensive scientific study supported the Board’s 1994 mandate for the lake to be managed at the 6,392-foot surface elevation, and the Committee expects the workshops will inform the Board of the situation we see daily: At present low lake levels chronic impacts continue, impairing ecosystem health, causing toxic dust storms, reducing food availability for nesting and migratory birds, threatening nesting grounds, and causing significant Tribal concerns.
This post was also published as an article in the Summer 2026 Mono Lake Newsletter. Top photo courtesy of Nathan Taylor.
Workshops? To rehash topics that were decided decades ago. LADWP delays, delays, delays. I have been coming to Mono Lake since 1969 and I do not expect the lake to reach management level in my lifetime. You have failed again.