Professional Experience

Mono County Supervisor, Jan 1983-1999
Chairperson, 1986, 1993.

• Represented Mono County and Board of Supervisors before U.S. Congress to support a National Academy of Science Study on Mono Basin. (approved)
• Represented Mono County on National Association of Counties' Public Lands Steering Committee to Promote a policy of county, state, and federal agency coordinated ecosystem approach to use of public lands.
• Member, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, 1984 to 1999. Representative for Mono County on Governing Board of the Air Pollution Control District for the Eastern Sierra Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties). Chairperson: 1989, 1993, 1996.
• Testified for following bills fefore US. Congress:
• In support of Mono Lake National Forest Scenic Are. (approved)
• In support of Bodie Protection Act. (approved)
• In support of California Wilderness Act
• In support of Desert Protection Act

Board Member

• Yosemite Restoration Trust, Vice-President, 1995
• Coalition for Unified Recreation in the Eastern Sierra (CURES), Steering Committee, 1991 to 2005
• Mono Lake Committee, Board of Directors, 1999 to present

Founded

• Friends of Mammoth, a citizen advocacy group formed to oppose environmentally damaging development in Mammoth Lakes. Successful legal action resulted in the landmark California Supreme Court case, Friends of Mammoth v. Mono County (1972) , which held that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) applied to private developments approved by a public agency. 1970-1976.
• Southern Mono Historical Society, founded in 1983
• Sierra Nevada Alliance, co-founder and past president (1993-1998), an umbrella organization supporting local and regional grassroots groups working to preserve the Sierra's environment and economy. Focused on promoting sustainable economic ventures and enhancing the unique quality of life in the Sierra. Fostered a balance between economic goals and environmental protection and supported a community-based consensus approach to dispute resolution.
• Sierra Nevada Regional Initiative, founded in 2000 in the tri-county area of Alpine, Inyo and Mono counties in the Eastern Sierra, to conserve California landscapes and to preserve other key environmental values by improving the quality of land-use planning and of the project-review process.
• Reformed Friends of Mamoth, 1997, and co-chaired the successful court case (July 31, 2000) defeating an illegal Redevelopment Plan in Mammoth Lakes, characterized as a 'reverse Robin Hood, taking from the poor and giving to the rich.'

ANDREA MEAD LAWRENCE
CSPRA Honorary State Park Ranger 1999

Andrea Mead Lawrence was selected as Honorary State Park Ranger due to her direct support to the efforts of California State Park Ranger Association, for her advocacy of California's State Parks and for a lifetime of contribution to the conservation movement.
As a longtime resident of the Eastern Sierra Nevada and member of the Mono County Board of Supervisors, Ms. Lawrence has been an ardent supporter of both Bodie State Historic Park and Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve. Her activism on behalf of Bodie led her to testify before the U.S. Congress in support of the Bodie Protection Act, at a time when all other Mono County Board of Supervisor members were opposing the CSPRA-sponsored legislation.
She also spearheaded the formation of a local citizens committee which served as the Mono County compliment to the larger "SAVE BODIE!" committee of CSPRA. Her involvement with Mono Lake includes efforts to create the Mono Lake National Scenic Area.
As an elected official, Ms. Lawrence was a leader in protecting her county's open spaces, wildlife habitat, recreation areas, water resources and air quality. For decades she has championed wilderness causes and co-founded the Sierra Nevada Alliance in 1993 to push for comprehensive policy and land use decisions to preserve this bioregion.