Conservation

Pumping Station

New! Conservation Alerts from the Bristlecone Chapter: if you'd like to receive occasional emails alerting you to conservation issues which directly affect the Eastern Sierra, contact Steve McLaughlin at conservation_alerts@bristleconecnps.org and request to be added to the email list. Our first Conservation Alert was sent on 2/1/2011 about the Bodie Hills.

Current Issues

Notes from the Conservation Chair

Goals

The current goal of my activities as conservation chair is to focus attention on the excessive groundwater pumping conducted by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) and the destructive effects this pumping is having on Owens Valley alkali meadow habitat. This habitat is rare in California and is home to a number of rare species.

DWP's pumping is supposed to be managed in accordance with provisions of the Inyo-LA Long Term Water Agreement (LTWA). There are abundant data, however, showing DWP's management is not in compliance with the LTWA. For more information about the provisions of the LTWA and DWP's failed implementation of it, please visit the Owens Valley Committee website at www.ovcweb.org.

— Daniel Pritchett, Conservation Chair

2009 CNPS Conservation Conference Proceedings

Strategies & Solutions, the 2009 CNPS Conservation Conference brought together hundreds of botanical experts, artists, amateurs, students, and policy-makers. The Conference Proceedings, just printed in November 2011, includes 51 papers on topics ranging from rare plant introduction, regional conservation planning, habitat restoration, and mapping the vegetation of California. The proceedings cost $65, and the complete table of contents may be viewed online at Proceedings of the 2009 CNPS Conservation Conference, Strategies and Solutions (table of contents). Bristlecone Chapter member Sally Manning has an article in the book:

"Managing groundwater pumping to conserve native alkali meadow in Owens Valley, California," p.131.

"Managing Drought in Owens Valley" Parts 1 and 2

Videos of a case study presentation at the Ecological Society of America November 2009 Millenium Conference, "Water-Ecosystem Services, Drought, and Environmental Justice," presented by Bristlecone Chapter Conservation Chair Daniel Pritchett and (then) Vice-President Sally Manning:

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Recent Conservation Articles from our Newsletter

Daniel Pritchett (Bristlecone Chapter Conservation Chair) is responsible for the content of the conservation pages. Please contact him at conservation@bristleconecnps.org with questions or comments.