Industrial Gravel Mining in the Mono Basin

RUSH CREEK AND GRAVEL PITS

I didn't take this one--it is a color infrared aerial photo taken in October 1999 that I obtained from the Mono Lake Committee (who got them from LADWP). You can see the red of vegetation lining Rush Creek as it flows between two gravel pits. These pits are on LADWP property and National Forest Land just outside the Scenic Area. Both are expanding and "reclaiming" already mined areas. The one on the right recently was issued a permit to double in size (the expansion is already underway) despite numerous permit violations in the past. The green ponds are sedimentation ponds. From here down to Mono Lake, Rush Creek is wild and beautiful, with only two road crossings.

MONO CRATERS AND GRAVEL PITS
Photo by Erin Ryan

View from the top of Williams Butte, 8,431' above sea level, looking east at the Mono Craters. In the lower left corner, note the landfill (square area on left) and the gravel pits just down and to the right. These are the same gravel pits in the photo above.

GRAVEL PITS CLOSE UP
Photos by Erin Ryan

A close view of the two gravel pits, with Rush Creek flowing in between on its way to Mono Lake.

Photo by Greg Reis

A plume of dust rises
from the larger gravel pit, as seen from Rush Creek downstream. It is a common sight on windy days to see dust arising from the gravel pits, the Pumice Valley Landfill, and the Pumice Plant in Lee Vining. On cold mornings, a plume of white steam rises from the Asphalt/Concrete Plant located in the center of the larger pit.

These gravel pit expansions are the direct result of highway maintenance and construction--if we could live with fewer lanes or design pavement that lasted longer or drive lighter vehicles or haul freight on railroads instead of highways, these expansions wouldn't be necessary. CalTrans was proposing to start operating a gravel pit (in a previously used but now abandoned area) only a few hundred feet from Mono City residences, with several trucks coming and going each day. There would have been no significant noise impacts, according to CalTrans. A (somewhat rude)* outcry from Mono City residents stopped the project (in a NIMBYish way).**

*It is never appropriate to be rude. We are all in this together. In rare situations it may be difficult to treat the perpetrators of particularly egregious acts with respect, however I don't condone this--but I recognize that being only human (as opposed to a Mojave Desert Sidewinder), it can be difficult to control our emotions sometimes.

**I'm not necessarily opposed to NIMBYism, but it should be based on higher principles that turn it into NIABYism: Not In Anyone's BackYard. (Remember, we're all in this together?) Where were the alternative sources of gravel? Where did those impacts get sent? It doesn't bother me that people didn't want this in their backyard, but it did bother me that no one was asking these questions.