By Deb Murphy Nearly 12 years have passed since then Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa performed the ceremonial re-watering of the Lower Owens River, declaring “This is a new chapter in our relationship with the Owens Valley.” He may have been overly optimistic, but the Lower Owens River Project is still a work in progress […]
By Deb Murphy Eleven years ago, then Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa turned the knob at a diversion dam below Lake Tinnemaha sending water down the 62-mile stretch of the Owens River to the dry lake. In an interview with the LA Times Louis Sahagun, Villaraigosa said “This is a new chapter in our relationship […]
By Deb Murphy In addition to Portagee Joe, Fifth District Supervisor Matt Kingsley’s town meeting in Lone Pine recently covered a range of topics. Here are the highlights: Kingsley asked for patience as the County wrangles with the house-sized boulders clogging the newly-paved Mount Whitney Portal Road. “I think we can deal with this before […]
By Deb Murphy “Woody recruitment,” the official term used to describe tree-let volunteers, will get a helping hand along the banks of the Lower Owens River next month. Inyo County has contracted with The Landscape Center to start planting willow and cottonwood pole cuttings starting in early February. A tree-lined river was part of the […]
Press release BISHOP – The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) released the draft 2016 Annual Owens Valley Report that identifies water available for uses in Owens Valley and for export to Los Angeles. LADWP will meet its commitment for in-Valley uses this runoff year. In-Valley uses listed in the report include irrigation […]
By Deb Murphy The Lower Owens River Project Annual Reports of years past, 2014 and 13 specifically, were long, jam-packed, border-line raucous gatherings spurred on by Ecosystem Sciences’ consultants. This year’s, held January 13 with no consultants present, — not so much. The presentations from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Lori Dermody and […]
Inyo County and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power clearly defined water reductions to the McNally Pond project at Tuesday’s Technical Group Meeting. LADWP’s motion to eliminate water supplies to the waterfowl ponds and adjacent 100-acre native pastureland west of U.S. 6 north of Bishop this runoff year was approved and will be […]
Numbers and locations have been thrown out since Monday’s Tech Group meeting, but the final decision on how to provide adequate irrigation for Owens Valley agriculture was postponed at Thursday’s Standing Committee meeting. Farmers and ranchers will have to wait until June 4 to know how many cuts they’ll get from their alfalfa fields, how […]
By Charles James Crystal balls were in short supply at the Tech Group meeting held at the Bishop Office of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in Bishop Monday morning to discuss ways to redistribute water within the Owens Valley. The Tech Group was established under the 1991 Long Term Water Agreement between […]
By Deb Murphy The partners to the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding that established marching orders for the Lower Owens River Project met last Tuesday to go over the latest set of conditions and concerns. All six parties have to agree to any change to the MOU and after more than a year of meetings, the […]
By Deb Murphy With the Owens Valley Committee conditions on the table, it’s now up to the other five Memorandum of Understanding partners to pick up the discussion that just may result in in the Lower Owens River Project, Phase II. The OVC Board of Directors issued its press release Tuesday listing nine conditions. If […]
– Press release from the Owens Valley Committee The Owens Valley Committee has been working for over thirty years to protect our valley. OVC has legal standing, along with six other parties, for oversight of the Lower Owens River Project (LORP). The LORP is mitigation for the seeps, springs, plants and animals destroyed or harmed […]
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