MONO LAKE C O M M I T T E E P. O . B o x 29 H w y 3 9 5 a nd Th i rd S t re e t Le e V i ni ng , C A 9 3 5 4 1 Phone (760) 647-6595 Fax (760) 647-6377
Board of Directors
December 16, 2022
Chair: Sally Gaines Martha Davis Vireo Gaines David Kanner Gina Radieve Tom Soto Sherryl Taylor Doug Virtue Kristine Zeigler Directors Emeriti Helen Green Ed Grosswiler Richard Lehman Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin Southern California Office 1718 Wellesley Ave Los Angeles, CA 90025-3634 On the Internet monolake.org monobasinresearch.org
E. Joaquin Esquivel Chair State Water Resources Control Board 1001 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Chair Esquivel, Today the Mono Lake Committee, after consultation with Federal and State agency officials and independent scientists, submitted a request to the State Water Resources Control Board for an emergency action to protect Mono Lake and its public trust resources by addressing an urgent and developing ecological crisis. This request is due to the imminent harm caused by the lake surface elevation having fallen below 6,380 feet above sea level, and is consistent with State Water Board Decision 1631, which mandated a Public Trust Lake Level to protect the resources imperiled at Mono Lake with a nature-based solution. Our letter and supporting documentation are attached. A combination of drought and continuing climate disruptions is imposing severe impacts on all of us—in Los Angeles, here in the Eastern Sierra, and throughout California. For Mono Lake, which is already artificially low due to decades of water diversions by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), the most urgent and immediate threat is to the California Gull population. Consider: [1] Legacy impacts of water diversions to Mono Lake, accentuated by drought. Mono Lake has not yet recovered from decades of excessive water diversions nor achieved the level required by the State Water Board to protect public trust resources, leaving its unique ecosystem impaired and millions of migratory and nesting birds at risk. Today the lake is only 20% of the way to the mandated level. [2] Lake level alarmingly low—indicator species at risk. This year the lake has dropped so low that coyotes can access nesting islands that support one of the world’s largest nesting California Gull populations, creating a high risk of colony depredation and disruption. Gulls are considered leading indicators of the overall health of the lake ecosystem. December 16, 2022 | page 1