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LADWP extends ranch leases |
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Thursday, 04 February 2010 |
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Register Staff
2-4-2010 It appears Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Interim General Manager David Freeman is making good on at least one of the promises me made during a recent visit to the Owens Valley.
The LADWP announced this week that, for the first time since the 1970’s, it has approved five-year ranch leases for 60 properties in Inyo and Mono counties.
This is a return to the LADWP’s practices of the 1940s and 1950s.
During his visit to the Owens Valley in January, Freeman vowed to look at several areas of concern for local residents and businesses, including LADWP land holdings and leases.
While his agency has not yet moved forward on the land releases, Freeman said his department would meet with county officials in the coming months to work on that. In the mean time, the department decided to extend the local ranch leases.
“We are pleased to offer longer term leases for our 60 ranching partners in the Eastern Sierra,” Freeman said. “Approving these longer leases will strengthen the ability of the ranchers to make plans and improve their operations. It will help the Department by insuring that the ranchers remain in place for many years, protecting the land and watershed. And it will help Inyo and Mono counties by continuing ranching practices that have been in existence for more than 100 years and contribute millions of dollars to the local economy each year.”
“The ranchers and Department have worked together for decades in the Eastern Sierra,” said Tom Noland, President of the Inyo and Mono Cattlemen’s Association. “We are very happy that the Department has approved five-year ranch leases. This will give us more stability and help us plan better for the future.”
In the 1970s the LADWP ranch leases in the Eastern Sierra were converted to one-year terms while the Inyo-L.A. Long-term Water Agreement and associated Environmental Impact Report and Memorandum of Understanding were being developed. A provision of the MOU called for the development of land management plans for LADWP-owned lands in the Eastern Sierra. With those plans now being put into practice in both Inyo and Mono counties, the LADWP is again offering long-term leases.
“The action by the Board makes a significant milestone in how the Department and the ranchers in Inyo and Mono counties work together,” LADWP Board of Commissioners President Lee Kanon Alpert said. “It’s an example of how Los Angeles is working in many different ways to maintain positive relationships in the Eastern Sierra. We look forward to continuing these efforts through constructive discussions and collaborations.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 February 2010 )
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