California Gulls at Mono Lake can’t catch a break. Another drought year and a legacy of excessive water diversions are increasing the threat of coyotes crossing the emerging landbridge to Twain Islet and reaching vulnerable eggs and chicks during the…
“The principal values plaintiffs seek to protect, however, are recreational and ecological—the scenic views of the lake and its shore, the purity of the air, and the use of the lake for nesting and feeding by birds … it is…
All the dictionary definitions of “restoration” apply to the State Water Board’s new Order 2021-86, which you’ll read about in the pages of this Newsletter. My favorite definition is “restitution of something taken away or lost.” Restoration work began in…
As the world closed down in March 2020 in response to the worsening coronavirus pandemic, research groups working in the Mono Basin also packed up and went home. Though a few people were able to return later in the year…
The California Department of Fish & Wildlife (DFW) implemented new freshwater fishing regulations statewide on March 1, 2021. The changes were intended to be simple, but for the Mono Basin, the new regulations create a tangled line of new rules…
Wild horses, previously seen rarely and only in remote parts of the Mono Basin, have experienced rapid population growth in the past five years—so much that they have expanded far beyond their home territory near the Nevada state line and…
The City of Los Angeles has made remarkable progress in reducing water use, using less water today than it did in 1970 despite population growth of 1.2 million. The people of Los Angeles, its leadership, and the Los Angeles Department…
Hydrologic forecast shows lake level dropping into risky territory As California enters another year of drought, the Mono Lake level forecast for the 2021–2022 runoff year is in, and the outlook is not good. The lake is projected to drop…
The California State Water Resources Control Board issued Decision 1631 in 1994 to restrict the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s (DWP) diversions from Mono Lake’s streams in order to restore the streams and waterfowl habitat and allow the…
Low lake vulnerable to drought & climate change; rule changes needed to accomplish lake protection On a warm fall day in 1994, I walked into the state capitol building alongside a crowd of Mono Lake advocates. We assembled in a…
