Mono Lake Committee staff, members, and volunteers gather native plant seeds at Old Marina. Photo courtesy of Bob Finch.

Over the past several years, a dense monoculture of invasive sweet clover has grown up around the David Gaines Memorial Boardwalk at Old Marina. Along with the Mono Lake Committee, Friends of the Inyo, and California State Parks, local residents, summer visitors, and students from Los Angeles donated over 300 hours of their time to removing sweet clover this past summer, and we successfully cleared nearly the entire boardwalk of this troublesome weed.

Yet invasive plants removal cannot be accomplished through a single management technique. This year, instead of simply uprooting the sweet clover, we decided to give it something to (more…)

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. Photo by Bartshe Miller.

As head of the California Department of Fish & Game’s Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program, Dr. Tom Stephenson has a job which takes him all over the range, from Mt. Langley to Dunderberg Peak. On Wednesday, August 31, it brought him to the Mono Lake Committee’s Theater & Gallery, where he gave a presentation as part of our “Refreshments with Refreshing ‘Ologists” summer lecture series.

Bighorn sheep are the only federally-listed endangered species in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the only federally-listed endangered mammal on the Inyo National Forest. The species has been (more…)

The Mono Lake water story is featured as a central component of the new exhibition, “Water: H2O=Life” at the Qasr Al Hosn Cultural Quarter Hall in Abu Dhabi. The exhibition, which first opened at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, treats the relationship between water and life through a variety of interactive displays. Mono Lake’s inclusion in the exhibition speaks to the global significance of the environmental successes that have been achieved here. Read more in The National‘s article.

The Great Sierra River Cleanup is one of the largest and most successful annual volunteer stewardship events in the Sierra Nevada. Last year, over 4,000 volunteers cleaned up 265 miles of rivers throughout the region. The Mono Lake Committee looks forward to participating again this year, and we need your help! Please join us this Saturday, September 17, at 9:00am at our Information Center & Bookstore. We will carpool to June Beach and spend the morning cleaning trash, cigarette butts, and fishing line from the lakeshore. If it’s more convenient, you can also meet us at the first June Beach parking lot at 9:30am. Please wear long pants and close toed shoes, and bring water. Snacks will be provided. Please contact Office Manager Rose Catron if you’re interested in coming along!

Researcher Sarah Dalrymple of UC Davis spoke at the Mono Lake Committee on Wednesday, August 4 as part of our “Refreshments with Refreshing ‘Ologists” lecture series. Dalrymple is a PhD candidate in biology whose work centers in the Jeffrey pine forest just south of the Mono Basin on the Deadman Plateau.

If you’ve ever taken a stroll in the woods near Obsidian Dome or Wilson Butte, you may have noticed distinct rings around certain pine trees where the ground has been cleared of needle litter. Intrigued by this phenomenon, Dalrymple did some preliminary investigation and discovered a strong correlation between the presence of these cleared rings and the survival of trees during a forest fire. In one recently-burned area, trees with clearings around their trunks had a 60% reduction in mortality compared to trees without clearings. Dalrymple set out to determine what creates and maintains these clearings and what role they play in the fire cycle of the forest.

The cleared area around a Jeffrey pine. Photo courtesy of Sarah Dalrymple.

First, Dalrymple compared clearings in forests that had and had not experienced a recent regime of prescribed burns. She found (more…)

The National Park Service is extending the “Stars Over Mono” program through September 19 this year, so you still have a chance to learn about the night sky with the help of an interpretive ranger.

The night sky at South Tufa. Photo courtesy of Bristlecone Media.

The program meets every Monday at 8:00pm at the South Tufa kiosk. Mono Lake is a particularly good stargazing venue as the horizon is not obscured and there is very little light pollution. Bring a pad to sit on and your sense of wonder! Each program lasts an hour and a half.

Dr. Tom Stephenson, head of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program, will give a lecture at the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore this Wednesday, August 31, at 4:00pm.

Bighorn sheep are an endangered species in the Sierra, and Tom’s work has focused on rehabilitating threatened populations of sheep in the Wheeler Ridge, the Mt. Langley area, and the Mono Basin’s own Lundy Canyon. Come by our Theater & Gallery on Wednesday for this next installment of our summer lecture series, “Refreshments with Refreshing ‘Ologists.” Contact Julia with any questions at (760) 647-6595.

…then come to a lecture this Wednesday, August 24 at 4:00pm at the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore! In the third installment of our summer lecture series, “Refreshments with Refreshing ‘Ologists,” biologist Sarah Dalrymple of UC Davis will give a presentation on her research in our local Jeffrey pine forest. Sarah studies how prescribed burns and ants cause clearings around Jeffrey pines that can reduce future damage from wildfires. This topic is extremely relevant  as it’s now the height of the summer wildfire season. Following the talk there will be a chance for questions, comments, and … refreshments! Please join us on Wednesday at 4:00pm!

Photo courtesy of Sarah Dalrymple.

This Wednesday, August 17, join Mono Lake Committee interns and local volunteers as we water Jeffrey pine seedlings along Rush Creek. The trees were planted in an effort to help restore healthy riparian vegetation to the creek, which ran dry for about 50 years due to excessive diversions.

Volunteers help water Jeffrey pine saplings on the banks of Rush Creek.

Jeffrey pines are unusual trees, growing primarily in a narrow corridor from southern Oregon south to Baja California. Large stands of Jeffrey pines occur right here in Mono County, where rich (more…)

Sweet clover encroaching on the David Gaines boardwalk.

Every Wednesday at 10:00am, Mono Lake Committee interns meet a group of curious visitors on the back patio of the Forest Service Visitor Center. We give a brief presentation on the restoration work that is ongoing in the Mono Basin and introduce the group to some of the challenges we face in bringing our fragile stream and lakeside ecosystems back to a state of health.

After the talk, we invite our listeners to join us in a hands-on stewardship activity. Some weeks we water the (more…)