High Sierra Topix

Good news.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_sc/water_wars

Finally El -A legal monkeywrenching stalling ends as they bend over to the court decision way back in 1997. ...David

So Mulholland is to blame for the armpit of CA being what it is today! He should be tarred and feathered posthumously. You know what though? If I researched it further, I might have to thank him for making the Owens Valley the sparsely populated paradise that it is. Hmmmm....

I never thought of it in that way...Good point!

It was a history making day. The Owens River now runs from it's source to Owens Lake once again. Now if they'll just put water back into the lake, all will be well.
Steven

Mountaineer is right, with enough water it could look like downtown Los Angeles,

I recall reading in one of Galen Rowell's books a couple decades ago this Owens Valley comment about it being in a better undeveldoped state as a result of the LA aqueduct. Seem to recall he was quoting some well known person like Norman Clyde or one of the early Sierra Club mountaineers. It is all too true that development would likely have occurred as rich development interests offer too much money to resist to ranch land owners. However LA should not have ruthlessly extracted every drop they could which resulted in destruction of the pre-historic riparian ecology of that valley. In modern times courts usually rule for a balance allowing minimal flows down streams. The valley land is half owned by Los Angeles with the rest mostly Bureau of Land Management. mountainous parts north of Mammoth include Inyo National Forest. Thus in the distant future there is the threat Los Angeles might sell some of their lands to developers as it would be very valuable. We can only hope that day never comes and larger powers step in to prevent another needless urban sprawl that only ever makes a few wealthy from the gold and country club rich. ...David