OOS 49-8
Turning science into solutions: Lessons learned on the path to protecting and restoring Mono Lake and its tributary streams
Mono Lake is a large (twice the size of San Francisco) saline (80 g/l) lake located in the Eastern Sierra region of California. The lake’s unusual water chemistry supports an extremely productive population of alkali flies and endemic brine shrimp, which in turn provide plentiful food to millions of nesting and migratory birds, including over 80% of California’s breeding population of California Gulls, over 30% of the North American population of Eared Grebes, and 10% of the world population of Wilson’s Phalaropes. The lake’s tributary streams provide corridors of forested riparian habitat for fish, songbirds, and wildlife that is rare in the Great Basin.
Water export to Los Angeles from the Mono Lake watershed began in 1941 and excessive diversions dried the streams and caused the lake to drop dramatically in volume, raising salinity and pushing the ecosystem toward collapse.
Today, Mono Lake is protected with a long term mandated sustainable management level, and restoration of lake and stream habitats is well underway. This presentation will review how extensive scientific studies mixed with citizen advocacy through the Mono Lake Committee and managed to reverse the destruction of Mono Lake and achieve its current protections. Topics include legal precedents, the establishment of a healthy lake level requirement, the implementation of comprehensive Stream Ecosystem Flows for stream restoration, and implementation of successful adaptive management. Additionally, Mono Lake offers a sample framework for how to combine ongoing monitoring, scientific oversight, participation by stakeholders and regulators, and adaptive management to maximize ecosystem recovery.
Results/Conclusions
Scientific studies of Mono Lake revealed the destructive impacts of excessive water exports on the ecosystem and illuminated a clear need for public policy solutions. A broad-based public advocacy movement was necessary to develop and successfully implement those policy solutions. Rebalancing of the water allocation between Los Angeles and Mono Lake has taken place, and subsequently science and advocacy continue to play critical, complimentary roles in advancing stream and lake ecosystem restoration through adaptive management, long term research, and restoration project implementation. The successes at Mono Lake offer hope for other threatened saline lake systems and suggest strategies to achieve their long term sustainable management.