BY MIKE STEVENS
Last Eastern Sierra Trout Opener (Fishmas) Eve, I finally found myself connecting with guide Fred Rowe (sierrabrightdot.com) for a morning on Bishop Creek Canal. No one hits that fishery more often than Rowe, who admits a huge draw is the convenience factor, since, as a Bishop local, it really can’t be beat when he has an hour to kill and wants to do so flyfishing.
The canal flows through LADWP property and eventually delivers its water into the lower Owens River, which ultimately feeds the city of Los Angeles. The relationship between the LADWP and the Eastern Sierra region has been a rocky one for over 100 years. There were some questionable tactics in play around the beginning of the 19th century leading up to water from the Owens being diverted toward L.A. in 1913 via the new aqueduct, and that can still be felt resonating to this day in the comments of those who simply know the standard “California water wars” talking points.
On my drives up U.S. 395, I often find myself wondering, “what would it be like if all the water stayed in the valley?”
That day on the canal, Rowe gave us a light history lesson on these subjects, had WON Sales Director Brad Wilson and I casting on dry land before moving over to fish the canal. During this time, he made numerous comments about how everything we were doing was on LADWP property, and in LADWP water. Rowe showed us spots where LADWP-controlled outlet pipes (a couple feet in diameter) are uncorked – for various reasons – tapping into the vast aquifers below the valley floor and dumping chilly water into the canal which keeps the water cool and trout happy even in summer’s regular triple-digit heat.
Short version: most of where play on in the Owens Valley is LADWP land, and Rowe, who has spent most of his life up there fishing, guiding, exploring and reading between the lines resulting in his LADWP land-and-water fandom.
In that sense, LADWP managed land really isn’t much different than that of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
If all the water stayed up there, of course it would be great for irrigating the valley, and it would be pretty cool to have a full Owens Lake at the terminus, but then what? I’ll tell you the first thing I imagine that really gives me the heebie jeebies, and that’s a dozen or so more Temeculas between Hesperia and Bishop. Golf courses, hotels, WalMarts, Buffalo Wild Wings and so on, on both sides of the road, all the way up. Maybe that wouldn’t happen, but I would love to hear a solid reason why that wouldn’t be the case.
Remember when it took 5 minutes to get through Adelanto? I sure do, and I’m not THAT old! So, on some level, it’s happening anyway, but the landscape in its current form is absolutely keeping it as “in check” as possible.
The current version my beloved trek north on 395 is one of many admittedly selfish reasons I’m cool with this particular water situation, but a lot of tangible positive stuff surrounds it as well. Anyone who has had beers at Jake’s in Lone Pine or Rusty’s in Bishop has seen LAWDP vests at the bar or at the pool table. It creates a lot of jobs up there. Along with the recreational opportunities, power generation and environmental efforts including habitat improvement for both fish and critters (visit LADWPEasternSierra.com for more info on any of that), the Department has really come a long way over the last century-plus for locals and visitors alike.
And let’s be real. When it comes to water anywhere in the country if not the world, the region it came having a stronghold on its rights isn’t a very realistic way of thinking. If that were the case, Southern California (for example) would be tapped out of its water supply from the Colorado River (guess why it’s called the COLORADO River!) and also choked off from NorCal’s spigot (State Water Project).
How are you pools and lawns lookin’ without those rascals?
But really, forget about water and our inability to live without it, it’s really all about me not wanting to navigate a gauntlet of 237 more Starbucks and as many more Highway 395 stoplights on my new and improved 43 hour commute from San Diego to Bishop.
