In a recent email from National Geographic I noticed a photo of a familiar place in a gallery called “Habitats–Freshwater Photos.”

I blinked and looked more closely, surprised to see saline Mono Lake pictured alongside places like Bow Lake in Canada’s Banff National Park, the Okefenokee Swamp in the southeastern US, and the Yellowstone River—all clearly bodies of fresh water. But the more I thought about it, (more…)

As the northern hemisphere tilts away from the sun, taking us into another winter, lengthening nights pinch the daytime shorter and shorter. With the sun disappearing behind the Sierra at around 4:00pm these days, sunrise each morning feels extra special. This short video on Dailymotion.com captures sunrise at South Tufa in a condensed, 14 seconds of time-lapse. Enjoy sunrise at Mono Lake!

The Mono Lake Committee’s new film, The Mono Lake Story, has garnered some impressive accolades recently.

The Mono Lake Story was chosen to be part of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival! The the festival’s mission is to inspire people and unite communities to heal the earth. It is considered the largest film festival of its kind, and the Mono Lake Committee and Bristlecone Media are honored to be part of it. The festival is hosted by the South Yuba River Citizens’ League each January in Nevada City.

In addition, composer Cody Westheimer was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media award for his score for The Mono Lake Story. The award ceremony is held in November—we’ll be crossing our fingers for Cody to win the category of Original Score: Indie/Short/Documentary.

Stay tuned for more updates on all this exciting recognition here on the Mono-logue.

A peaceful winter scene on Mono Lake's west shore. Photo by Rick Knepp.

The Forgotten Season: Winter Photography in the Mono Basin
January 13–15, 2012
$220 per person / $200 for Mono Lake Committee members

Registration opens Tuesday, November 1 for Mono Lake Committee members only; non-members can join to register on November 1 or wait to register until Tuesday, November 15.

Winter at Mono Lake: a lifting morning poconip fog, tufa towers jacketed in snow and reflected in the mirror of the lake’s surface, ice sculpting crystalline filigree along creek and lake banks. This photography seminar will be based in Lee Vining and will explore locations along the lake to photograph the serenity and (more…)

If you had to describe the value of California’s State Parks in only one word, what would that be? What word would you use to describe the value of the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve?

See a few answers here in Folk4Parks.org’s latest video. Former ranger Janet Carle and current ranger Dave Marquart share their words. The Mono Lake Committee’s Morgan Lindsay and Geoff McQuilkin each have a word. What’s your one word?

Check out this on-the-ground report from Retired State Park ranger and Volunteer Program Coordinator Janet Carle at Folk4Parks.org.

Janet Carle at Mono Lake. Photo courtesy of Folk4Parks.org.

Janet describes how non-profit partnerships can be so important in times of budget cuts and looming state park shutdowns. Luckily, the state park at Mono Lake has lots of non-profit partners: the Mono Lake Committee, the Bodie Foundation, and the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, just to name a few! Janet writes that Mono Lake’s state park is “a standout among state parks as a low-cost, high-value park unit, thanks in large part to these creative cost-saving partnerships that have been fostered over the years.”

After a cool spring and a late summer we are eagerly awaiting the leaves changing here in the Mono Basin. Right now there are a few spots of color on Conway Summit, in Lundy Canyon, and along the June Lake Loop, but not much has changed yet.

Fall colors blaze on Conway Summit last October 21st. Photo by Bartshe Miller.

Stay up to date on the latest fall color news by checking the informative California Fall Color website. You can also give us a call here at the office at (760) 647-6595 and we’ll tell you what we’ve seen. Happy autumn!

Support for California’s state parks can be found everywhere: in thousands of petition signatures and letters, at the shore of Mono Lake, and all over the internet. Check out these two short videos from Folk4Parks, a web-based grassroots movement dedicated to showing people what’s at stake if 70 parks across the state were to be closed.

In Part 1, Folk4Parks explores a question many people have been asking: “What does it mean to ‘close’ a California State Park?” Watch for the familiar faces of the Mono Lake (more…)

The Mill Creek WebCam is back in action, and it’s better than ever! It had been down since 5:55pm on Monday, July 4th, after lightning fried the Ethernet port and the router that connected it to the Internet. During the downtime we found a good deal on webcams, so last weekend Geoff was able to install a brand-new camera to keep us updated on Mill Creek. Check out the great image quality of the new cam!

The brand-new Mill Creek WebCam's view south toward Mono Lake.

The other new webcam we bought will be installed at the Scenic Area Visitor Center in the next few months, which will offer a view without pink light streaks, dramatically improving this stunning view of Mono Lake.

Anyone who has been to Mono Lake knows it: this place is unique, breathtaking, inspiring, and worth fighting for. In the last few days visitors to Mono Lake have posted a few reviews online that corroborate that opinion!

Canoe tours are one of the very best ways to experience Mono Lake. Weekend Sherpa, an outdoor lifestyle publication, published a trip report from one of our canoe tours.

And California-based photographer Matt Ludin published a post on his website that sums up how we feel about Mono Lake too. Check out his beautiful shots of the lakeshore.

Thank you!