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By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
10-13-2009 Inyo County continues to keep the debate about motorized use at Klondike Lake at arms length despite cries for help from a number of concerned citizens.
When the Save Klondike Committee first formed this spring, the board assigned two members, Second District Supervisor Susan Cash and Fourth District Supervisor Marty Fortney, to work with the citizen group and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in hopes of keeping Klondike Lake opened to motorized use.
The board has refused to demand that LADWP keep Klondike open to motorized use, saying it does not have the financial means to contribute to regulating the lake and that it is LADWP’s lake and responsibility.
The Save Klondike Committee has volunteered man-hours and money to regulate the lake, saying it feels it is everyone’s responsibility to guard local waters from invasive quagga mussels while enjoying the recreational opportunities local lakes provide.
During a heated discussion at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Bishop resident Kammi Foote said that Klondike Lake is a mitigation measure in the Long Term Water Agreement, meaning the LADWP has a legal responsibility to keep the lake open for “reasonable” recreational uses, as stated in the LTWA.
“All this financial talk is muddying the waters as to what this really is,” Foote said last week. “This is a mitigation measure and a private group should not have to commit anything financial to that.”  Kylee Smith enjoys a day of fun in the sun on Klondike Lake this summer. Now with the warm weather water-sport season over, the Save Klondike Committee is hoping to work with the LADWP to organize longer hours of use on Klondike next year while protecting the lake from invasive quagga mussels. Photo by Kendra Stone
Foote says that “reasonable recreation” means water sports such as water skiing or wake boarding, while the board has maintained that “reasonable recreation” could legally mean any form of recreation.
Independence resident Bennett Kessler simply asked the board if it felt the LADWP had lived up to its side of the LTWA, as far as Klondike Lake is concerned.
First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius, without saying “yes” or “no,” pointed out that Klondike Lake was open for all traditional forms of recreation throughout the summer.
Kessler asked for a yes or no answer, but the board refused to state its case in such simple terms, and maintains that the lake has been available for recreational use.
The LADWP, after initially considering closing Klondike to motorized use this spring due to the threat of invasive quagga mussels in the area that can cause millions of dollars worth of infrastructure damage each year, agreed to a tentative schedule that would allow residents to take their boats on the lake this summer.
Clarence Martin, assistant aqueduct manager for the LADWP, retooled the schedule after several weeks, allowing for more days of access on the lake, but members of the Save Klondike Committee are hoping for more access next year.
The schedule began on May 23 with the lake opened one day a week to anyone who paid a special fee to have their vessel inspected for quagga mussels.
Eight weeks later, after taking comments from the Save Klondike Committee, Martin and the LADWP changed the access schedule, allowing boats that had paid the inspection fee to launch on the lake from 8-10 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Some members of the Save Klondike Committee have praised LADWP’s efforts to meet residents half way and make the lake available for motorized use, while other members have condemned the department’s and the county’s actions, saying neither are respecting residents’ rights to the lake.
“We’re asking for longer hours, a longer season and a tagging system for boats” so residents don’t have to pay the inspection fee to access the lake every week, said Russ Markman of Save Klondike.
Martin said he cannot commit to any of the Save Klondike crowd’s requests.
“What we did this summer was on a trial basis to collect data,” Martin said.
Supervisor Cash encouraged Martin to review the data that was collected so he could let the Save Klondike camp know what kind of resources the department will need from them to meet their requests for next summer.
Cash said she and Fortney should meet with the LADWP and Save Klondike Committee once or twice more to facilitate those talks, then decide if the county is obligated to get involved under the LTWA mitigation measure stipulation.
No date has been set for the ad-hoc meeting with the LADWP and Save Klondike.
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