F. Bruce Dodge, lead attorney for the Mono Lake Committee and Audubon in the Mono Lake Public Trust lawsuit and State Water Board proceedings, passed away in July 2024. Bruce successfully argued that California’s Public Trust doctrine requires Los Angeles’…
It’s an old story. A State Fisheries biologist is assigned to a remote area and begins patrolling and documenting the abundant fisheries there. He becomes concerned when upstream water diversions start to degrade the riparian ecosystems that he was assigned…
In a recent ruling, Sullivan v. Lincoln County, the Nevada Supreme Court changed the way water will be managed throughout the state. Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin Director of the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote about the decision: Pre-Sullivan, nearly every…
The Walker Basin Conservancy, a pioneer in the use of market-based environmental solutions, recently announced another successful water and land acquisition in Smith Valley, Nevada. This deal included 320 acres of Walker River corridor, 3.6 cubic feet per second of…
Earlier this month a group of plaintiffs filed a public trust lawsuit that claims the state of Utah has failed to protect Great Salt Lake and its unique ecosystem for the benefit of all state residents. In other words, the…
Record Sierra runoff (and the Public Trust Doctrine) flow into Walker Lake In the last days of 1994, celebrations of State Water Board Decision 1631 by Mono Lake Committee staff had barely ended when it began to snow, and snow,…
On July 28, 2022 the United States District Court in Reno, Nevada agreed to a Walker Lake Working Group (WLWG) motion to allow legal service by publication. This brings to near completion a 30-year effort to legally notify all Walker…
See Gary’s article “Public trust doctrine on the horizon for Nevada after Walker Lake legal victory” for background information about Walker Lake. Walker Lake update In January 2021 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Walker Lake Working…
In a new twist to a long and winding legal battle, a recent Ninth Circuit Court decision offers a possible path to restoration for the long-beleaguered Walker Lake. A fellow terminus lake Around 40 miles (as the gull flies) northeast…
