Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
Morning started with tea and the South African specialty, rusks—biscotti-like biscuits—before a full morning meeting at the Wildlands Conservation Trust office. As fellow founding members of the Living Lakes Network, the Mono Lake Committee and Wildlands have been in touch for the past 11 years, but have never had a chance to sit down and make use of the connection in quite the way we did on this morning.
Meeting with Simone Dale, Communications Manager at the Wildlands Conservation Trust.
We talked about how our organizations operate, our goals, guiding principles, programs, fundraising, daily operations, and the challenges we face. It was a thoroughly invigorating meeting—a rare and valuable chance to learn from another non-profit and to share some of our Mono Lake experience.
Full of new ideas and ways of thinking about things, we started on our journey to see St. Lucia, the surrounding area, and some specific project sites in the vicinity. With absolutely no help from our Portuguese-speaking GPS unit, but lots of good information from our guide Charmaine, we traveled up the coast to where St. Lucia meets the Indian Ocean.
One observation that would become critical (more…)
Monday, April 27th, 2009 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
If you really want to attend the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, but are finding it hard to tear yourself away from your garden for a June weekend, we’ve got a program just for you! Join expert Alan Pollack, M.D. for his talk “The nature of your garden” to learn a whole new dimension in gardening: wildlife habitat! Alan’s background (more…)
Monday, April 27th, 2009 by Bartshé, Education DirectorcloseAuthor: Bartshé, Education DirectorName: Bartshé Miller Title: Education Director About: Bartshé directs the Committee's Outdoor Experiences Program, Canoe Program, and Interpretive Programs, and manages the Mono Basin Field Station. He has been an Eastern Sierra resident since 1993.See All Posts by Bartshé (30) Contact Bartshé
It’s not that simple of course, but at Owens (dry) Lake, with some water returning via dust mitigation efforts, so are the birds. Here is a recent article from the LA Times about the Owens Lake Big Day, and here are the results, compliments of Mike Prather, Owens Lake Big Day coordinator. With over 60,000 birds comprising 75 species, there’s more going on than what you can see from Highway 395.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 by Erika, Office DirectorcloseAuthor: Erika, Office DirectorName: Erika Obedzinski Title: Office Director About: Erika's main task as Office Director is to keep balance in the office for the Committee's many staff and priorities. She is the puzzlemaster for the office schedule--which involves over 20 staff in the summertime--and she also oversees the summer intern and volunteer programs. Before her current role, Erika spent three years as the Committee's Membership Coordinator and her first summer in the Basin as an intern. After studying music composition at Bennington College, Erika received a degree in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community from New College of California.See All Posts by Erika (11) Contact Erika
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
This morning at 10:00 am students from Lee Vining Elementary school walked from their classroom down to Lee Vining Creek to plant trees for Earth Day. A tradition since 2005, this local Earth Day celebration is a great way to get outside and help out Mono Lake too.
In preparation, students from third, fourth, and fifth grade classes learned how to plant trees yesterday during a hands-on demonstration at school.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 by Geoff, Executive DirectorcloseAuthor: Geoff, Executive DirectorName: Geoffrey McQuilkin Title: Executive Director About: Geoff's goals for the Committee are: assuring Mono Lake's continuing protection, restoring Mono Lake's tributary streams, developing a permanent education program, and assuring that the strong tradition of scientific research at Mono Lake continues. A graduate of Harvard in the history of science, Geoff has worked for the Committee since 1992 and was an intern and volunteer before that. He's happy to live close to the lake with his wife Sarah and their daughters Caelen and Ellery.See All Posts by Geoffrey (105) Contact Geoffrey
This past Sunday, over 500 people gathered at Mammoth Mountain to pay tribute to Andrea Mead Lawrence on what would have been her 77th birthday.
The Andrea Lawrence Memorial, April 19.
The event featured a roster of speakers, a video about her achievements from Olympic historian Bud Greenspan, a display of photographs from her many accomplishments, and a chance for (more…)
Friday, April 17th, 2009 by Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistcloseAuthor: Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistName: Greg Reis Title: Information & Restoration Specialist About: Since his Committee internship in 1995, Greg has been involved with Mono Basin stream restoration and with maintaining the Committee's computers, Websites, and Research Library, and researching and compiling information for our programs. His B.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Forestry and Natural Resources with a concentration in Environmental Management and a Senior Project in Hydrology reflects his interest in natural resources management, administration, planning, environmental analysis, and restoration. He is a member of the California Association of Environmental Professionals and the California Society for Ecological Restoration.See All Posts by Greg (134) Contact Greg
Today the Mono Cone and Monitor Pass both opened! Osprey are seen daily in Lee Vining and the very first flowers are blooming along the Lee Vining Creek Trail!
WEATHER
A snowstorm every few days has kept the air cool and the ground wet, and typically brings strong winds along with it. The weather is finally expected to warm up early next week with highs in the (more…)
Friday, April 17th, 2009 by Elin, Communications CoordinatorcloseAuthor: Elin, Communications CoordinatorName: Elin Ljung Title: Communications Coordinator About: Elin's job consists of some of her favorite things: finding typos, experimenting with layouts, and figuring out how best to communicate the Committee's work to the world. She also oversees the Field Seminar program. Elin is an EMT on the Lee Vining Fire Department, loves sitting at Latte Da Coffee Cafe immersed in a good book, and watches English Premier League football (soccer) at any opportunity.See All Posts by Elin (133) Contact Elin
Arya, Elin, Greg, and Geoff celebrate after launching the new website in November 2008!
We entered our fabulous website into the Adobe-TechSoup Show Your Impact design contest a few days ago. The contest organizers wish to award groups that demonstrate outstanding or innovative use of Adobe products to increase impact and further the missions of their organizations, and we felt that www.monolake.org fit the bill perfectly. Winners are chosen on the basis of community votes, so please take a moment to vote (more…)
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
Here is a simple recipe for a beautiful morning: start with one volcano, preferably rhyolitic, with breathtaking views of Mono Lake, the Sierra Crest, and the Aeolian Buttes. Add one symphony-trained flute player and Tuolumne Meadows Interpretive Ranger as your guide. Add coffee to taste, or just roll out of bed and serve immediately. (more…)
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 by Mono Lake Committee StaffcloseAuthor: Mono Lake Committee StaffName: Mono Lake Committee Staff Title: About: The Mono Lake Committee is a 16,000 member non-profit citizens' group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.See All Posts by Mono Lake Committee (29) Contact Mono Lake Committee
The 8th Annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua is June 19-21, 2009. Registration opened early Wednesday April 15th and over 100 people registered during the first three hours. Twenty of the sixty events were full by midday.
There is still a lot of room left in many of the still-open events, especially since this year, Friday June 19th is a full day of events. In previous years most of Friday’s events started in the evening.
