photo by Stephen Ingram

About the committee: The Owens Valley Committee is a non-profit citizen action group dedicated to protecting the natural resources of the Owens Valley by monitoring water and land management, educating the public, and encouraging participation in local government. OVC is dedicated to citizen involvement and has been active in Owens Valley water issues since 1984.

Our bylaws are available here.

About our board: Owens Valley Committee holds yearly board elections. Our current board members include Mark Bagley, Ceal Klingler, Derik Olson, Constance Spenger, and John Williams.

Mark Bagley, an independent botanical consultant who works in the Owens Valley, eastern Sierra, and Mojave desert, waded into Owens Valley water issues with the Owens Valley Committee in 1989. He was the Sierra Club negotiator for the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding that described the Lower Owens River Project, and he continues to serve as Sierra Club's MOU representative. For several years, he has served as the Owens Valley Committee's legal and policy liaison and director--in other words, the Owens Valley Committee's rudder--in which role he helps the Owens Valley Committee determine what issues it should prioritize most for its small group of active volunteers. "I believe very strongly in the purpose of OVC," Mark writes. "The Owens Valley Committee is the only organization with a focus on water issues in the Owens Valley and on protection of the environment in the lower elevations of the valley."

Ceal Klingler, our president, has volunteered for OVC since 1997 in water policy, land management, and legal issues. She serves as OVC's MOU representative and has served as OVC's webmaster since 2001, when she co-created the site with another volunteer to help disperse information about Owens Valley water issues. "Water is absolutely essential to life," Ceal writes. "Divert vast amounts of surface water, or drop groundwater below the zone where animals and plants can reach it, and first individual plants and animals, then species, then entire ecological communities die or disappear. I'm fond of life, especially the life that makes the Owens Valley unique. That and, like any other human, I'm made mostly of water. Volunteering for the Owens Valley Committee was inevitable."

Derik Olson has been an Owens Valley resident for more than 23 years and worked for the Inyo County Water Department for most of those years, monitoring, researching, and rehabilitating Owens Valley water levels, soil conditions, and vegetation "in an attempt to improve the Owens Valley environment--and water policies --that suffered so severely from LADWP's water-gathering activities."

"It was the continued determination of groups such as the OVC, the Sierra Club, and individuals that kept water issues moving in a general positive direction," Derik says, adding that becoming a member of OVC's board offers "a great opportunity to continue helping protect and enhance our environment."

Connie Spenger, our secretary, has lived in the Owens Valley since 2003. She has served on the boards of various conservation organizations and founded Friends of the Tecate Cypress to save the northernmost stand of Tecate cypress in Orange County. She is a life member of the Sierra Club and the California Native Plant Society. "I deeply admire the achievements of the Owens Valley Committee and the technical expertise it has mustered," she writes. "Rewatering the Owens River is a singular achievement. I look forward to helping protect the natural resources of the Owens Valley."

John Williams moved to Bishop 15 years ago, after hiking the first 1,300 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Lake Tahoe. Before that, he taught in the mathematics department at Pomona College and then at UCLA. In addition to serving on the board since 2009, he has served as OVC’s membership coordinator for several years and is the editor of OVC's newsletter, The Rainshadow. "Water is the most pressing environmental issue in the Owens Valley," John writes. "It affects vegetation, habitat, wildlife, air quality, the economy, and the quality of our lives. That's why I became a volunteer for OVC."

About this site: In November 2001, this site was lovingly created, compiled, written and/or edited, and then hand-coded in a hurry by two OVC volunteers with a preference for high information content and quick download times.* One of those volunteers has moved on to other projects, but the other volunteer continues to work on water issues in general and this site in particular. She greatly appreciates complaints, suggestions, and/or verifiable water news. Please e-mail.

*Alas, neither volunteer has brushed up their skills as much as they could have since then. We apologize for irregularities in the fabric of our web site.