Owens River Restoration Success For Fish & Wildlife, But Visitors Frustrated By Masses Of Cattails

[hatrack]

Reporting from Lone Pine, Calif.— The largest river restoration ever attempted in the West — intended to support a cornucopia of wildlife and outdoor activities — has left a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens so overrun with cattails, cane and bulrushes that it may take decades to bring them under control. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa turned a knob in 2006 that opened a diversion dam gate about 235 miles north of the city, putting water back into a river essentially left dry after its flows of Sierra snowmelt were diverted to the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913.

Officials from Inyo County and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which manages the Lower Owens River, boasted that within 10 years, the waterway would come back to life as a healthy and diverse ecosystem for fish, frogs and waterfowl, shaded by canopies of cottonwoods and willows. The rehabilitated river would attract more tourists to financially struggling Owens Valley towns with bass fishing tournaments and a kayaking experience some called "the long glide" because the river's carefully controlled flows would be free of rapids and waterfalls.

Today, about 65% of the river is dominated by vegetation collectively known as "tules" — growing 8 feet high and in swaths 10 feet wide, about 10% more than had been anticipated, project ecologists said. Fishing and kayaking opportunities exist only in scattered patches of brownish-green water.

The $39-million Lower Owens River Project "gave back our 62 miles of running water all right," said lifelong resident and fishing guide Francis Pedneau, "but you have to charter an airplane to see the water." Marty Adams, director of water operations for the DWP, acknowledged in a statement that "the growth of tules and cattails in the river channel has been much quicker and more pervasive than anticipated by everyone involved, already choking off major portions of the river. This limits the enjoyment of open water and recreational activities."

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-tules-20110725,0,2375471.story

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Idiots. Let them grow, they are fixing the soil

just like certain weeds will repair the soil if we let them.

:shakeshead:

[XOKCowboy]

2. Plus supplying food and cover for the fish and animals

I'm happy to see the Lower Owens being rehabbed. When LA stole the valley's water they devastated the area. The tules and cattails will subside in time as the river heals. Humans are very impatient though.

[txlibdem]

3. Cattails are able to clean many contaminants from water

Cattails are ideal for large scale phytoremediation projects in wetlands. In an odd twist, cattails are being used to fend off other cattails in the Florida Everglades. The cattails are allowed to thrive in designated pre-treatment areas, where they absorb phosphorus from runoff. This helps keep excess phosphorus out of the Everglades, which in turn helps prevent cattails from overrunning protected areas.
Cattails, Water Pollution, and Global Warming

Phosphorus removal is just the tip of the water pollution iceberg that could be solved by cattails. Cattails have been associated with remediating sites contaminated with arsenic, pharmaceuticals, and even explosives. As for a role in the global warming picture, planting cattails could help prevent excess methane emissions from degraded wetlands.

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/16/cattail-army-deployed-to-fight-water-pollution/

And the military is looking at using cattails for biofuels. Versatile plants.

[petronius]

4. I was traveling around out there last week, and I was noticing how beautiful

the isolated well-watered spots actually are. Gives a sense of how amazing the valley must have been before it was sucked dry.

You're right about the impatience - 5 years is nothing compared to a century of withdrawals. There are plenty of places to hike, fish, and wildlife-watch in the area now; the restored area will come back in time...

[XOKCowboy]

5. I've only read about it in Cadillac Desert

There were orchards and irrigated fields. A very unique and lush little oasis between the Sierras and the high desert all fed by the Owens. The story about Mulholland and the LA water barons and how they stole the valley's water and literally turned the valley into a desert overnight still infuriates me.

I've been trout fishing in the Upper Owens and Eastern Sierras many times. I also try to imagine what it was like before the water grab.