The Public Trust Doctrine At Mono Lake, California
Mono Lake, an ancient saline lake in California's Eastern Sierra, was long threatened by the diversion of its tributary streams south to Los Angeles, thereby lowering the water levels. In 1983 the California Supreme Court ruled in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court that Mono Lake is a public trust resource of the state of California. This was an important victory for the Mono Lake Committee, the National Audubon Society, and other advocates for the lake. Expanding the ancient doctrine to include recreational and aesthetic values and the importance of the lake to wildlife, the Court decreed that Mono Lake has "public trust values" that the state has an obligation to maintain. In the words of the Court, "The public trust...is an affirmation of the duty of the state to protect the people's common heritage of streams, lakes, marshlands and tidelands."
The Court ruled that the water rights of Los Angeles and the public trust values of Mono Lake had to be more fairly balanced, and that the water rights of the City of Los Angeles would have to be revisited to assure proper public trust protections. The Mono Lake Committee has been working since 1978 to achieve this balance.
Read more about this topic: Public Trust Doctrine, Application
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