The Winter & Spring 2012 Mono Lake Newsletter is now online and available to view and download for Mono Lake Committee members. The online version comes complete with color photos! You’ll find articles about Mono Lake’s state park success, DWP’s proposal to eliminate limnology monitoring at Mono Lake, the upcoming remodel in front of the Committee, Mill Creek’s return pipeline, the 2011 California Gull research, this very dry winter, the Defender of the Trust Award winner, the 2012 Field Seminars, and much more.

Join the Mono Lake Committee to become a member and to see the current issue today! Members also have access to (more…)

Mono Lake Committee Outdoor Experiences Manager Santiago Escruceria gives everyone a nickname. Beyer High School senior Tom Rydquist’s was “Mr. Muffin.”

In December 2011 the California Museum and Comcast announced that Rydquist won the Northern California Grand Prize in their Dreamers Challenge for a video he produced. His video “Funding the American Dream: Helping California Lead the Way in Water Reclamation”  suggests a fee on sewage utilities to create water recycling programs. You can see Rydquist’s video here.

Beyer High School senior Tom Rydquist, left, monitoring water quality at Mono Lake with his classmates. Photo by Santiago Escruceria.

Along with fellow Beyer students from Modesto and their teacher Kay Myers, Mr. Muffin (more…)

Here’s a promising update for those of you following the recent story in the Los Angeles Times regarding dozens of solar energy facilities with national parks and forests that are waiting for grid connections while Southern California Edison hashes out contracts.

Solar panels at the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center were installed on the south side of the building. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

According to the LA Times, “The Forest Service said Friday that it expected to have its two projects—including a solar facility at the Mono Lake visitors center—connected to the grid soon.” The Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center’s solar array was installed (more…)

By now I’m sure you’ve guessed it … our #1 highlight for Mono Lake in 2011 was getting the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve removed from California’s state park closure list. It was, first and foremost, a group effort—with Mono Lake Committee members playing a key role in writing and signing thousands of letters and petitions that got the attention of key decision-makers in Sacramento as they were hand-delivered to their offices each week. Finding creative solutions (the working mantra of the Mono Lake Committee) played a key role in the effort, and we are enthusiastic about The Bodie Foundation stepping up (more…)

One of the classic Mono Lake Committee history stories starts something like this … in the late 1970s, Mono Lake Committee founder David Gaines toured tirelessly around California with a carousel of slides and a call to help a dying lake—talking to anyone who would listen. Well, you know the rest of the story … so, clearly, it worked. To this day, we meet people who tell the tale of how they learned of the plight of Mono Lake and joined in the effort through one of Gaines’ slideshows. We continue the tradition by  (more…)

In 2011 the Mono Lake Volunteers, in addition to their regular work helping Mono Lake visitors have a great experience, played a critical role in helping get the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve off the state park closure list. It is partnerships programs like the Mono Lake Volunteer program that show everyone from legislators to budget keepers that a strong, well-organized, and effective group of volunteers can play a critical role in supporting the work of state parks in protecting resources like Mono Lake while providing essential visitor services for agencies like the Reserve, the National Forest Scenic Area, and non-profits like the Mono Lake Committee.

Under the expert guidance of Volunteer Program Coordinator Janet Carle, the Mono Lake Volunteers (more…)

Here in the office we call it the Collaborative Aqueduct Modernization & Management Plan, or CAMMP for short. But when we say things like, “Geoff, Lisa, and Morgan are CAMMP-ing,” it’s not what it sounds like. CAMMP is a State Water Board mandated series of facilitated meetings embarked upon by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the California Department of Fish & Game, California Trout, the State Water Board-appointed Stream Scientists, and the Mono Lake Committee with the goal of working through the details of implementing the scientific streamflow prescriptions issued in 2010 and the associated aqueduct modernization necessary for the aging infrastructure to be able to reach the restoration goals at Mono Lake.

So … what does all that mean? It means that (more…)

The Committee’s Outdoor Experiences program began in 1994 with visits from two community-based organizations: Mothers of East Los Angeles, Santa Isabel and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps—who were part of the water conservation toilet retrofit program in LA. Who would have imagined that in 2011 we would host 20 groups from Los Angeles and beyond at the Outdoor Education Center here in the Mono Basin? In the program, participants are empowered through work on personal growth and community-oriented activities to build an understanding and appreciation for the Mono Basin/Los Angeles watershed. Through education programs and muscle-powered recreational activities, participants learn that balanced solutions are possible for (more…)

Invasive plant species removal is nothing if not a gigantic task—which is where a whole lot of good, old-fashioned, hands-on restoration stewardship comes in. In 2011 volunteers came out of the woodwork to help tackle the problem of invasive plant species (as well as tree-watering and garbage pick-up)—from participants in the Outdoor Experiences program to the official Mono Lake Volunteers to a group of staff from the Reno Patagonia store to spontaneous local and visiting family volunteers and Mono Lake (more…)

You simply must read the fun and heartwarming post by Birding Intern Oliver James, who captures the spirit of the intrepid bird lovers responsible for this feat perfectly. Even if you’re not a birder this is a great story. As it turns out, the crew was so enthusiastic that just days later they did a second Big Day and beat the 150 species with 153, so that’s the new number to beat….

Justin, Chris, and Oliver celebrate a Big Day well done! Photo courtesy of Nora Livingston.

For this and more interesting bird sightings in the Mono Basin:

• Lee Vining team breaks Mono County Big Day birding record
• Mono Basin bird sightings