The following story was written by Emily Ontiveros:
The Eastern edge of California can feel far away from the rest of the state, particularly in winter when all the mountain passes are closed, and the drive from Sacramento to the Owens Valley inevitably takes 5 or 6 hours. I also think it can be the most beautiful time to drive to the Eastern side of the Sierra, passing by the snow in Tahoe, the glassy surface of Mono Lake, and the fast flowing waters of the Owens River. The way that water shapes the land is visible down the entire length of Highway 395, from high Sierra to high desert.
As I spent a few days in the small town of Bishop, I saw not only the way that water shaped the environment, but also the way that it has shaped a network of collaboration through the Inyo-Mono Integrated Regional Water Management Program. I attended one of Inyo-Mono IRWMP’s meetings, alongside regular attendees from local communities. Many of the small communities along the Eastern Sierra were represented in person, and a few virtually, in spite of the added geographic challenge of being spread out along about 260 miles of rural highway. This included Tribes from all over the region.
I had heard that, initially, things had been challenging in the Inyo-Mono group in reaching some agreements about language in the governing documents. However, in its early days, the group had refused to move forward in its development until the issues in language had been worked out, allowing everyone, including Tribes, to enter into regional water management on a level field. That spirit of collaboration and inclusion has lived on in the group, evident in the conversation I witnessed that centered around how to arrange the budget in a way that would cover at least the basic needs of every proposed project, rather than turn to a competitive process for funding allocation.
Far too often, this is not the kind of story you hear about in water management. Other situations, like the sometimes volatile ones created by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (which mandates planning among groundwater users in critically overdrafted basins) overshadow methods of cooperation. If we only hear about those that lock horns over water, then we are doomed to continue living in a worldview influenced by a common saying: that water is for fighting over.
In the Inyo-Mono region, water, and the funding available to manage it, is for sharing, not for fighting over. It is for building resilient and equitable rural communities and the network of support that keeps the headwaters healthy.