Conway Ranch Option Presents Restoration Opportunity

A project proposed by Mono County and the Trust for Public Land (TPL), and advocated by the Mono Lake Committee, holds great promise for restoring historic wetland habitat at Mono Lake. If the project is successful, water would be returned to Mill Creek, restoring the natural hydrology of the creek's extensive bottomlands. Rewatering Mill Creek is listed in the Mono Lake restoration plans as the most important action next to raising the level of the lake itself for riparian and waterfowl habitat restoration at Mono Lake (see Newsletter, Spring 1996, 8-9).

TPL, a national land conservation organization, has acquired an option to purchase the Conway Ranch and its associated Mill Creek water rights and would like to convey them to Mono County for open space preservation, development of a fish-rearing facility, and the rewatering of Mill Creek. To this end, the county has submitted a grant for North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding, and DWP has agreed-subject to certain conditions-to provide up to $2 million in matching funds for the purchase of the Conway water rights.

Mill Creek, located in the northwest corner of the Mono Basin, is one of Mono Lake's major tributaries but was never diverted by Los Angeles. For over 100 years, however, Mill Creek water has been diverted for hydropower, as well as irrigation of the Conway Ranch. As a consequence, Mill Creek's delta and bottomlands were dewatered and the riparian habitat-rich, wooded wetlands-was lost. Because Mill Creek was frequently dry during the period when Mono Lake was falling due to DWP diversions, Mill's delta and bottomlands were less damaged by stream incision than were those on Rush Creek. As such, rewatering Mill Creek offers an excellent opportunity to compensate for irreparable damage to the Rush Creek bottomlands.

The beauty of the current situation at Mill Creek is that restoration could be accomplished by simply restoring the creek's natural hydrology.

Rewatering Mill Creek also presents some thorny issues that need to be addressed. These include:

1) potential loss of riparian and stream habitat along Wilson Creek
2) impacts on irrigated meadows on the Conway and Thompson ranches
3) the cost of upgrading the facilities which return Mill Creek water from the Lundy powerplant to Mill Creek.

While it remains to be seen whether the grant will come through and whether all issues can be resolved, the Committee is actively supporting the restoration of historic habitat at Mono Lake through this initiative.

Return to Fall 96 Newsletter

Last Updated January 07, 2007