Mono Lake in California USA showing tufa
tufa at mono lake In order to provide resources for the growing Los Angeles area, water was diverted from the Owens River. In 1941 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power extended an aqueduct system into the Mono Basin So much water was diverted that evaporation soon exceeded inflow and the surface level of Mono Lake fell rapidly. By 1982 the lake was reduced to 37,688 acres (15, ha) having lost 31 percent of its 1941 surface area. As a result alkaline sands and once-submerged tufa towers became exposed and Negit Island became landbridged, exposing the nests of gulls to predators (chiefly coyotes) and forcing the breeding colony to abandon the site. In 1974, Stanford graduate student David Gaines studied the Mono Lake ecosystem and was instrumental in alerting the public of the effects of the lower water level.[3] The National Science Foundation funded the first comprehensive ecological study of Mono Lake, conducted by Gaines and undergraduate students from UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and Earlham College. In June 1977 the UC Davis Institute of Ecology published their report, "An Ecological Study of Mono Lake, California," which alerted California to the ecological dangers posed by the redirection of water away from the lake for municipal uses.[3] Gaines formed the Mono Lake Committee in 1978. He and Sally Judy, a UC Davis student, led the committee and pursued an informational tour of California. They joined with the Audubon Society to fight a now famous court battle to protect Mono Lake through state public trust laws.[3] While these efforts have resulted in positive change, the surface level is still below historic levels and exposed shorelines are a source of significant alkali dust during periods of high wind. Owens Lake, which once sustained a healthy ecosystem, is now a dry lake bed during dry years due to water diversion. Mono Lake was spared this fate when the California State Water Resources Control Board issued an order to protect Mono La
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Photo credit: © gary corbett / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: america, calcium, california, forest, formation, geological, geology, giant, hike, hiking, historic, lake, large, limestone, mono, nevada, park, site, states, trail, tufa, united, usa, walkway
