A prestigious, international law firm has joined the legal team representing local groups suing the City of Bakersfield over how it operates the Kern River. Morrison Foerster is well-known in environmental advocacy circles for, among other things, its work on the Mono Lake case that resulted in the “National Audubon Society v. Superior Court” decision. That ruling restricted how much water the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could divert from streams flowing into Mono Lake based on the Public Trust doctrine, which holds that the state owns all natural resources and must put them to the highest public use, including the environment and public access. The lawsuit against Bakersfield asserts that the city must study its Kern River operations through the Public Trust lens, and not just based on the more than 100 years of court decrees and agreements amongst rights holders on the river.