History of the COSA

In 1988, the Bishop Paiute Tribe set aside 24.8 acres of wetland habitat as a Conservation Open Space Area in mitigation for filling adjacent lands for commercial development. The land reserved for development now includes the Bishop Paiute Tribe Commercial Park, Yuhubi Nobi gas station, Toiyabe Indian Health Clinic, the Bishop DMV, and the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Offices.

This wetland mitigation was a requirement enforced by the Army Corps of Engineers as a part of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the US, including wetlands, and determines mitigation strategies to offset the impacts of development. Specifically, the Army Corps of Engineers granted the Tribe Nationwide Permit 26 (Wetlands Protection or Swamp Reclamation). This Nationwide Permit authorizes certain kinds of wetland fill, certain amounts of fill, or fills in certain types of waters, as long as the fill meets specified conditions and the filler abides by specified management practices. In addition, no practical alternatives may exist that are less damaging to aquatic environments, and the nation's water must not be significantly degraded by the project.

The mitigation ratio was determined to be 1:3, meaning that for every unit of area designated for development, three would be set aside as a Conservation Open Space Area, to remain undeveloped in perpetuity. While the COSA area was born from required mitigation, the Bishop Paiute Tribe's vision for the area has since expanded greatly. Today, the COSA not only serves as important habitat for natives plants and animals, it also provides recreational opportunities, wildlife trails, and an ideal location for environmental education programs. Furthermore, the COSA is currently being utilized to increase populations of threatened and endangered plants and animals, such as the Owens Valley Checkerbloom, the Inyo County Mariposa Lily and, perhaps most notably, the Owens Pupfish.