Letters to the editor

In this past Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, writer Peter Fimrite wrote a feature about the planned closure of the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve due to state budget cuts.

Mono County resident Tom Crowe wrote Mr. Fimrite the following letter in reply this week:

Chronicle eats Crowe

Mr. Fimrite:

Upon reading your article about Mono Lake in the Chronicle, I was floored. Did you do any research at all other than talking to Mono Lake Committee members? Mono Lake is not a Wilderness Area. It is not a National Park. It is not a National Monument. Most important of all it is not a State Park. It is an open navigable water way. It is the Mono Lake National Scenic Area that is administrated by the US National Forrest Service.  Most important of all it is not CLOSED!!!

The myth that Mono Lake is a State Park is a fallacy. This myth includes that boats are not allowed to be on the lake.  The most frequent question People always ask: I didn’t think that boats were allowed on Mono Lake. I thought that the Mono Lake Committee didn’t allow it.”……Oh my God! Do these people think they own the lake?

Mono Lake, after countless public meetings was set up under the Forest Service as a National Forest Scenic Area in 1985. Through the years, with backing from the Mono Lake Committee, State Parks has undermined that authority. In 2005 without any public hearings a rider was attached to a bill in Sacramento to hand over the authority of the waters to the State Parks. When it passed, not even the Mono County Board of Supervisors knew about it. The only public notice of the transition was in the Mono Lake Committee News Letter titled “Victory over Mono Lake” and it was after the fact.

State Parks doesn’t even have a boat!  If there is a rescue situation the County Sheriff’s Dept. is called as it is equipped to carry out search and rescue. The State Parks lands consist of lands that were de-watered when the State of California and the Los Angles Department of Water and Power (DWP) were jointly responsible for the degradation of Mono Lake. The only ownership claims that the State has in the Mono Basin are those lying below eleven private property owners. The State claimed these so-called (relected land) was a result of the misdeed to the Public Trust by the State and LADWP.

Now the California State Parks are leasing land from the US Forest Service that they now claim as State Parks! State Parks has been instrumental in closing access to Mono Lake to boaters, shutting down private interpretative tours (such as my Mono Lake Boat Tours) and discouraging researchers from accessing the lake as well as professional photographers and filmmakers. In a town of 400 this is a giant chunk of revenue not only for the community but for the state. How do you invoke the “public trust” when you don’t trust the public?

State Parks has followed orders from the Mono Lake Committee ($2 million plus tax free income) without any public discussion. The State Parks was the Mono Lake Committee’s own “little police force” to harass the public and the local community to their own benefit.  If there is anything that is scaring the tourists away it would be the State Parks and the Mono Lake Committee. There is no more proof than the article in the Chronicle Sunday Times. The result is now people are canceling reservations to stay in local establishments because they think “Mono Lake is closed.” Far from it. The U.S. Forest Service is taking back positions as interpreters. None of the facilities around the lake have skipped a beat. In fact two new businesses opened this season.

The State Parks has nothing to shut down! There are no campgrounds, State Parks has no visitor center and they have no facilities. Everything they claim is leased or owned by the US Forest Service. Other lands that State Parks claim are in dispute with private owners.

There is a reason that Mono Lake Tufa Reserve was number one on the chop list by Governor Brown. They have no facilities.They have no resources to make the second largest natural lake in California safe. They don’t even have a rescue boat. They lease property from the Forest Service. They create no revenue for the State. They block access to the public and create a negative atmosphere, harass visitors and make them feel like criminals. They have been very generous in handing out citations for minor infractions. They claim that they have the authority to enforce Forest Service federal law. In other words they are doing everything that we, the taxpayers are already paying the Forest Service to do.

It is no wonder this state is going bankrupt! It is very clear who is exploiting Mono Lake. If State Parks would disappear tomorrow, no one would ever know the difference other than your taxes would be lower and there would be more informed access to the now walled-off waters of Mono Lake. The depressed economy might get back on its feet.

The article in the Sunday edition of the SF Chronicle is just slanted spin on behalf of those who benefit monetarily by soliciting non-profit donations to pay their salaries. In this tiny town of 400, private sector residents are dependent on seasonal tourist dollars. Thanks to your short-sightedness we are now getting cancellations because people think Mono Lake is closed. With this short season most of the old-time locals hope that there is one business that will not survive. That is the State Parks.

Authority of the waters and shorelines should be handed back to Mono County where an informed, responsible and local government can administrate competent rules and permits to encourage the public to make Mono Lake a destination rather than a place just to glance at while traveling to Yosemite.

Tom Crowe
Mono Lake Boat Tours