New Owens Lake Art - LA Times Article.

DWP could help the Lone Pine economy by re-filling Owens Lake...

This is perhaps the most critical time for the Owens Lake in almost a century. What was once a 110-square-mile lake estimated to be 1,000,000 years old began disappearing when the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, diverting the entire lower Owens River away from the lake. A once-vibrant ecosystem that supported expansive bird and plant habitats began disappearing, replaced by a dry lakebed plagued by noxious and almost constant dust storms and turning communities around the lake into ghost towns. Forced under court order after decades of litigation to begin releasing water back into the lower Owens River, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power finally began restoration efforts in late 2006.
The initial goal of the restoration was to mitigate the blowing dust and institute effective dust control programs, but has had the added benefit of reviving in small part the ecosystem that once flourished as a breeding ground for millions of birds, and supported vast and beautiful alkali meadows around the lake. In just three years since the re-watering of the lower Owens River commenced, bird populations around the lake have increased exponentially, and the native plant life has begun to revive as well. To ensure continued restoration of the Owens Lake that now includes habitat restoration as a goal, a network of groups in the Owens Valley including the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, the Owens Valley Committee, the Bristlecone Pine Chapter of the California Native Plants Society and the Eastern Sierra Land Trust have all been working hard to see the restoration continued and, hopefully, expanded with this additional goal in mind. For this documentary project, Mike Prather of Eastern Sierra Audubon has already been of invaluable help in familiarizing me with the lake and its various bird habitats.

Kalifornia has become immeasurably more entertaining while watching from the outside in.

Just got back from 16 days in Italy

"Wedding ceremonies on Owens Lake? Good luck finding a restroom..."

at Boulder Creek RV park

I hate you. ;)

$4 MILLION could have done a fair bit of habitat restoration but PR is clearly more pressing.

I have a love/hate relationship with LA/DWP. By locking up all the water rights back in the day, LA/DWP saved the Owen's Valley from what would, by now, be rampant development.
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