Relicted land in general is land exposed by changes in water levels or locations, including lake fluctuations and stream meandering. Relicted land at Mono Lake is specifically considered to be the land exposed due to the diversions of Mono Basin streams to L.A., which began in 1941. In summary, Mono's relicted land consists of all land below 6417 down to the edge of the lake currently at about 6385 feet above sea level. The state also owns all land under navigable rivers and lakes and land up to the high tide mark on the coast. Lands exposed by natural accretion or reliction belong to the adjacent property owner in most cases.
Accretion is the slow addition to land by deposition of water-borne sediment.
The Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve was established in 1981 as a unit of the State Park System to manage the state-owned, relicted land and to protect the public trust resources at Mono Lake. The private landowners adjacent to relicted land have been frustrated in their attempts to use state land. Private use of state land is allowed, but the landowners have found the state exceedingly slow to respond to their requests. The resolution passed by the Mono County board was a crude attempt to resolve the matter through legislation by simply changing the ownership boundaries essentially changing the definition of what constitutes state-owned, relicted land at Mono Lake. What the board didn't fully realize was that this move would threaten the existence of the Tufa State Reserve as well as put cracks in the public trust at Mono Lake.