Los Angeles ends free water deal for Long Valley ranchers
Since the early 1920s, the Long Valley plains east of Yosemite have inspired comparison to a rustic Western paradise … Much of this great, green expansiveness, however, owes to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which aggressively purchased land and water rights here more than a century ago. The department’s routine annual deliveries of free surplus water to its tenants have helped sustain ranching operations and habitat for many decades. But that relationship is now at risk of ending, and could carry dire consequences for one of California’s most striking and violently formed landscapes.