This post was written by Mila Re, 2011 Mono Lake Intern.
By this time in the summer many thanks are due to all the amazing people who have volunteered their time pulling invasive plants and watering trees at Restoration Wednesdays for the past two months. We at the Mono Lake Committee want to say a special thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, Ken & Gayle Midas as well as Donna & Jerry Farris, who have donated their time every Wednesday for the past month and a half to aid in restoration efforts. They have enthusiastically pulled enormous sweet clover plants, hauled buckets to water young Jeffrey pines, and brought their grandchildren along to make Restoration Wednesdays a bustling family event.
Thanks are also in order to the National Forest Foundation who awarded the Mono Lake Committee and Friends of the Inyo with a joint grant to fund restoration efforts in the Mono Basin. The National Forest Foundation, chartered by Congress, engages America in community-based and national programs that promote the health and public enjoyment of the 193-million acre National Forest System, and accepts and administers private gifts of funds and land for the benefit of the National Forests. This award funds efforts such as creek flow monitoring, invasive species control, restoration efforts, educational outreach projects, and more from April 2011 to April 2012. We are also grateful for the help from Inyo National Forest and California State Parks for their continued collaboration in these restoration projects.
At the end of September we will embark on an exciting new stage of restoration efforts in the Mono Basin. After spending the summer removing invasive plants from the Old Marina, we will reseed the area with native plants. The hope being that, in future years, sweet clover will have less of a presence near the lakeshore once native plants are given a second opportunity to take root and flourish.
So, it’s not too late to join the effort and spend a morning volunteering at one of the last Restoration Wednesdays of the summer! Join us next Wednesday, August 24th,at 10am at the Forest Service Visitor Center or contact Mila for more information. As always, delicious snacks are provided but bring your own water and sturdy shoes. We hope to see you on Wednesday!
