This recent letter released by the Mono County Board of Supervisors reinforces the Coalition’s concerns that LADWP’s plan and actions on the Bi-State Sage Grouse are not supported by sound management or science.
Context of LADWP’s “management plan”
The KLVG coalition alleges that DWP’s Sage Grouse Adaptive Management Plan is an effort to manufacture a deceptive basis to support future reductions of water flows in Long Valley. LADWP’s “plan” argues, without appropriate evidence, that little water is necessary to support sage grouse in Long Valley. Mono County’s response supports the coalitions determination that there is inadequate evidence to support that conclusion. The Coalition’s position relies on actual data and scientific studies that indicate when water allocations are low, the sage grouse population decreases dramatically.
4 Concerns of Mono County
The County’s concerns follow four important aspects of the management plan:
- The plan does not address or explain how it correlates to historic irrigation practices in Long Valley which have long sustained the Bi-State Sage Grouse.
- The plan does not state whether it applies in all year types or only in the driest years when there is a need to prioritize water deliveries to the most critical areas.
- The AMP should include a description of historic practices and resulting habitat conditions and provide measures to protect habitat resulting from those practices.
- Underlying assumptions and premises in the AMP unduly limit its effectiveness in protecting the Bi-State Sage Grouse in Long Valley.
Coalition Submits Urban Water Management Plan | Comment Letter