I hope you get to visit Mono Lake this summer. I hope you walk through the sagebrush down to the shoreline to say hello to the alkali flies. I hope you get to see a sunset, or a sunrise, or the march of puffy clouds across the quiet sky. I hope you fish one of the streams, photograph a tufa tower, see a bird you’ve never seen before, go for a float.

Why do I hope this for you? There are two reasons: the first is that there is a small, but dedicated staff that has been working tirelessly through the chilly winter months to prepare for your visit. We’ve been working to make sure that this special place is protected, that water flows down the creeks, that there are tours and seminars to be taken, that new books are available (more…)

It was Friday night at the movies in Lone Pine, and a wonderful and dedicated crowd gathered to watch The Mono Lake Story film. Only, this was not your average movie night.

Setting up for the film showing in the garden. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

It was as unlikely a spot as it was perfect—the Metabolic Studio’s IOU Garden on Main Street in downtown Lone Pine. Yup, right out there on the highway, nestled in between garden boxes bursting with budding strawberries and young onions, we had one of the (more…)

New this year, the Mono Lake Committee Scholarship has a new, and hopefully fun, component that you might not see in other scholarship applications. It starts like this … “Get yourself down to Mono Lake, close to the shoreline. You will need to take some time to be outside with no distractions….”

After taking some time to take in their surroundings applicants are asked to reflect on the question: Why do places like Mono Lake matter? We can’t wait to read the answers, and we hope the students have a good experience in the process (more…)

Alert Mono Lake Committee members let us know that the Eastern Sierra—in particular, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Owens Lake, 120 miles south of Mono Lake—was a feature story in this edition of All Things Considered. The story, titled “Owens Valley Salty As Los Angeles Water Battle Flows Into Court” is available in text and audio, and starts with an observation Mono Lake enthusiasts know well: “In the West, fights over water last a long time.”

National Public Radio: Owens Valley Salty As Los Angeles Water Battle Flows Into Court

As sequester cuts start to take effect, people everywhere are starting to translate what it all actually means, including here at Mono Lake. It is well known that cycles of life, tourism, and thus, the economy, in the Eastern Sierra are intertwined with the opening and closing of the Tioga road which connects us to the rest of California through Yosemite. We will be watching closely as events unfold and will keep you posted (more…)

Starting at around 7:00pm last night, when the new LA Times article featuring Mono Lake Committee Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin and Eastern Sierra Policy Director Lisa Cutting—“DWP seeks truce in water wars as L.A. Aqueduct nears 100″—hit, things have been abuzz here at the Mono Lake Committee headquarters in Lee Vining.

The online version of the LA Times article has a photo gallery, shown here. Photos by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times.

The article touches on three different Eastern Sierra issues, among them is one that Mono Lake Committee members know we’ve been working on for quite some time—getting the LA Aqueduct (more…)

If you haven’t experienced poconip, or ice fog, at Mono Lake, I recommend it. It usually happens when it’s sunny in most other parts of the Eastern Sierra, and the ground is frozen or snow-covered.

Rime ice in the Lee Vining Creek riparian area.

The fog can be quite thick, and it is very chilly inside the fog layer—keeping temperatures below freezing all day. The poconip creates rime ice on (more…)

We are sad to relay the news that longtime supporter and friend to Mono Lake, Huell Howser has passed away. Huell introduced countless people to Mono Lake through his first visit with “California’s Gold” in 1992 and then again in 2008 when he returned to film another episode, “Mono Lake Today,” about the exciting restoration progress.

Huell Howser paddling at South Tufa with Mono Lake Committee Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin in 2008. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

It’s not uncommon for us to hear visitors say, “I first learned about Mono Lake from Huell Howser (more…)

Number 4 on our Top Ten highlights list is a compendium of things that have made this year particularly memorable. One of the great things about living in the Mono Basin is that life is infused with the happenings of the natural world.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words….

Dry years can mean cold temperatures without precipitation, which makes good conditions for ice skating. We rang in the year with some seriously memorable ice skating on very-frozen lakes such as Lundy Lake Reservoir shown here. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

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Number 5 on our Top Ten highlights list is the the Trail Chic fashion show fundraiser for the Committee’s Outdoor Experiences program.

Mono Lake Intern Max Henkels walked the runway as the invasive weed, sweet clover. Photo by Lynette Villagomez.

This is really one of those events that you’ve got to see to believe. The Mono Lake Committee pairs up with Barefoot Wine & (more…)