Mono Lake and water theft

We studied Mono Lake in my 6th grade class. It’s an interesting ecosystem because the lake doesn’t have any streams taking water away from the lake — it’s a dead end. Over the millennia the lake has gotten very salty, to the point where fish can’t live in it. But there are 2 varieties of algae, and they form the base of a somewhat small food web.

Back in 1913 the city of Los Angeles decided they needed the freshwater that was flowing into Mono Lake and others and built the largest gravity fed aqueduct to bring the water to LA. A lawsuit brought by the Mono Lake Committee managed to save Mono Lake, but not nearby Owens Lake, which dried up entirely. The agreement stipulated that LA would get 1/4 of the water going to the lake, and Mono Lake got the rest.

Now the Committee is trying to get LA to stop taking any water from the lake. We’ll see how this progresses.

The Chestnut is coming back

… but it will take a while. Back in 1900 there were billions of Chestnut trees in the US. Then, over 50 years, they died off, victims of a fungal blight. New trees would grow from the roots of the old, only to succumb themselves. But a few survived. And now it looks like scientists have managed to breed a resistant version. Next year 500 will be planted in Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County.

5-26-2011a - Chestnut Tree in Bloom

Say goodbye to the Peel Watershed of the Yukon

The new government of Canada’s Yukon territory is (most likely illegally) ignoring a 2011 agreement on how to treat the Peel Watershed. The watershed is 77,000 km2, of which some 67,000 are in the Yukon. The indigenous people have been fighting with the mining industry over land use. In 2011 the Peel Compromise set aside 80% as protected wilderness, with the other 20% open to mining.

The new government is very pro-mining, and feels that the agreement is null and void now that they have been elected. They are changing the 80% to 29%, with the other 71% open to mining.

This actually ties in with what I’ve been teaching my 6th graders. We just learned that the 3 main uses people have for land is agriculture, mining, and development. I’ll be bringing this up in class tomorrow.