Revived water flow brings life back to river; In the eastern Sierra, L.A. water company forces flooding in Lower Owens River

Posted by Sierra Nevada Alliance Weekly

March 29, 2008

Lone Pine, Inyo County -- As blizzards whipped across nearby High Sierra peaks, ecologist William Platts lifted off in a helicopter here and headed north, 800 feet above a river that looked as if it were throwing a tantrum.
 
Beneath him, the squiggle of green was overflowing its banks, inundating a patchwork of oxbows, marshlands, forests and sagebrush. Culverts were nearly filled to capacity, and mats of dislodged tules and muck hurtled down the river.
 
"I really like what I see down there," Platts told the chopper pilot. "But we'll need three or four more seasonal pulses to kick-start this ecosystem into gear."
 
The Lower Owens River has flooded for millenniums, but this flood was artificial, part of the most ambitious river restoration project in the West. The river mostly disappeared when the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, but 15 months ago engineers began redirecting some aqueduct water into the channel.
 
The flood should flush the recently revived river of a century's worth of cattle waste and debris, add topsoil to its flood plain and spur an awakening of riparian rhythms without harming fish populations. Eventually, a canopy forest will grow along the 62-mile river, and Inyo County officials hope the river will support a thriving recreational industry.

Read the entire article by Lous Sahagun .