Storm over Mono: The Mono Lake Battle and the California Water Future

By John Hart

Book Overview

A dramatic environmental saga unfolds in John Hart's compelling story of the fight to save Mono Lake. This ancient inland sea, in the eastern Sierra near Yosemite National Park, is among the oldest in North America. But over the past fifty years, as its feeder streams were steadily drained to supply water to ever-growing, ever-thirsty Los Angeles, the lake's water volume eventually was reduced by half. Mono Lake's bizarre but productive ecosystem began to collapse: salinity greatly increased, nesting and migrating birds were threatened, and fierce alkali dust storms became a common occurrence.

Then, in the mid-1970s, a handful of people, most of them students with minimal financial resources, began a campaign to save the dying lake. They took on not only Los Angeles but the entire state government and a whole way of thinking about water. Their fight seemed doomed in the beginning, but long years of grassroots education and effort finally paid off. In 1994, the California Water Resources Control Board ruled that Los Angeles's use of Mono Lake's waters be restricted. Over time, the lake will return to a healthy condition.

John Hart integrates natural, social, and political history into a story that is a source of hope for anyone concerned about the environment. Storm over Mono demonstrates the important role of science in public policy debates and validates the concept of the public trust, the idea that certain things belong to us all, not metaphorically but in simple legal fact.

Complementing Hart's narrative are 32 stunning color photographs by a dozen leading nature photographers, along with numerous black-and-white photographs, illustrations, and maps.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520201213
• ISBN13: 9780520201217
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.5" x 0.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

This is the real, factual story of the battle to save Mono Lake, and it's as readable as a thriller. In this day of global warming and other countless environmental concerns, where it's those who realize the future against those who can't see the forest for the trees, this story is a base map. The book should definitely be brought back into print.

Modern David vs Goliath over Water in the West

In this version of the story, it's David Gaines - the graduate student from U. C. Davis. And Goliath is none other then the water company brought to life by William Mulholland and friends. Storm Over Mono has all the makings of a biblical tale, however, it reads much more like a case study for a class in environmental law. The small, but scrappy, Mono Lake Committee along with California Trout and others used their dogged persistence to protect one of the more unique ecosystems in all North America. John Hart recounts this critical conservation battle in American history with the greatest of precision and detail -- real, high-stakes stuff with a happy ending. A little background: Mono Lake rests in an arid basin just below the shadow of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California - unfortunately, not quite far enough from the long arm of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Referred to as the "Mono Extension", L.A. Water and Power drained Lee Vining and Rush Creeks. Over decades, this water project diverted critical fresh water flows into Mono Lake - lowering the lake's level and rising it's salinity. With the lake's ecosystem faltering in the 1970's, a group of "bird freaks" from the University of California at Davis saw the clear signs in their research and sounded the alarm. Members from this research group, including David and Sally Gaines, led the efforts to organize the diverse legal and environmental support needed to defeat a giant like L.A.'s Department of Water and Power. (If you're fortunate enough to fish the lower run of Rush Creek or explore the lake, be sure to tip your hat to the Mono Lake Committee and company.) One final note: today, Los Angeles County is home to 10 million people. (If L.A. County were a state, it would rank 8th in total population.) David won the battle over Mono Lake, but I'm afraid the water war is far from over in California. This book was first reviewed on the reviewer's own site: EcoAngler.com - The Nature of Fly Fishing.

Brilliant Historical Research that Reads like Fiction

I guess I may be a little biased because I was one of the primary sources for the book, but with some very minor issues, it is the most accurate re-telling of a story that should have been turned into a film. If you want to read a GREAT legal story that is also a true story, this is an excellent read. Oh yeah, it also has the obligatory beautiful photographs of Mono lake. Seems that lake doesn't know how to take a bad photograph! :-)