NON-PROJECT PROJECT
Published in the October 25, 2025 issue.
For a project that doesn’t officially exist yet, the West Mono Basin fire management plan is already generating plenty of conversation.
Whitebark Institute, a local fire-mitigation nonprofit, in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), is in the early stages of planning a fire-resiliency project spanning from June Lake to Mono City.
At this point, the agencies are in the very earliest phase of project planning, simply gathering ideas and concerns from local residents. To collect input, Whitebark hosted community meetings in Mono City last week and in Lee Vining on Monday, with additional meetings planned in June Lake on Friday, Oct. 28, and online Nov. 5.
“You’ll notice an asterisk on ‘West Mono Basin Project Proposal,’ because there is no project proposal right now,” said Stephanie Heller, USFS Mono Lake District Ranger, at the Lee Vining meeting. “We’re looking to create a project, or even multiple projects, that create resiliency to wildfire.”
After the USFS gathers and synthesizes community feedback, it intends to return to the public with a draft proposal from May to July 2026, with environmental planning slated to run from August 2026 to May 2028.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), though a significant area land manager, is not technically involved in the project. It recently went through an environmental review for a project within the Mono Basin, so officials didn’t see the point of going through it again, Heller explained.
Still, “They are working closely with the USFS to make sure that the projects we do develop make sense across those jurisdictional boundaries,” Tracy
Misiewicz, Whitebark’s environmental planning program director, said.
The Lee Vining meeting filled the small Lee Vining Library, though most of the 14 attendees represented partner agencies including USFS, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), and Southern California Edison (SCE).
In Mono City, turnout was higher: 26 attendees by Misiewicz’s count, but that wasn’t too surprising, as the community “did almost just burn down,” as Russel Reese, Mono City resident and Lee Vining Branch Library Coordinator, put it.
The Inn Fire, a blaze in May which scorched one home, temporarily shut down Highway 395, and burned more than 700 acres near Mono City, was a stark and recent reminder of the area’s wildfire risk.
At each meeting, Misiewicz and Heller gave a short presentation and invited participants to mark up maps showing vegetation, land ownership, watersheds, and community boundaries, leaving sticky notes and suggestions.
Unlike the “Mammoth Donut” project, much of the Mono Basin area is shrubland, according to one of the maps. For fire management, a major concern for ecosystems like this are invasive species that fill in the gaps between shrubs and allow fire to burn quicker and hotter.
There were some creative solutions to address this issue.
“I think goats could be a really good idea!,” Mono County Supervisor Paul McFarland brainstormed aside a map dotted with post-its. “And it’s just cute.”
Once Misiewicz called attendees back their seats and stood next to a massive notepad, she took down each of the community’s concerns, the first being that Mono City has only one main evacuation route, and that road is not in great condition.
“Four wheel drive vehicles would be fine, but I’m not sure a Prius could make it,” the attendee said.
The goat idea did make it to the spoken discussion, as another resident recommended using “old-timey” methods, like slash crews to reduce vegetation load.
McFarland pitched the importance of maintaining fuel breaks and reducing fuels around communities, roads, and campgrounds as a priority to reduce fire intensity.
On the maps minutes earlier, he’d explained that there’s no point to allocating resources to manage fuel load in areas where people don’t live.
Eventually, the suggestions came slower and slower, until they stopped coming at all. Misiewicz dismissed the crowd early, about an hour before its anticipated end.
