Thanks to the combined efforts of volunteer translators Milena Jovicic-Longnecker and Barbara Weibking, edits from Lee Vining local and native German speaker Stella Moss, and layout design by communications coordinator Elin Ljung, informational brochures about Mono Lake are now available in German. Our numerous German-speaking visitors will now be able to read about the Lee Vining Creek Trail, the Mono Lake Committee, and the natural history of Mono Lake in their own language. Watch this page for the German brochures coming soon…. Besuchen sie den Mono Lake!

Eared Grebes pepper Mono Lake's surface in this view through a spotting scope. Photo by Bartshe Miller.

Researcher Sean Boyd with the Pacific Wildlife Research Center recently finished tallying up the results of the October 13th Eared Grebe survey on Mono Lake. No easy task, since the only way to come up with an accurate estimate is to laboriously count the tiny grey specks in each of about 500 aerial photos of the lake surface. Once Mr. Boyd has converted the raw numbers to densities (#/km²), adjusted for scale, and extrapolated based on the current surface area of the lake, he can provide a final count.

This year the survey resulted in a total of (more…)

Last night at around 8:00pm the blustery winds of our first big winter storm gave way to a peaceful evening lit by a full moon. Though at first we were daunted by the prospect of digging my car out of eight inches of snow, OE Instructor Rosa and I decided we had to take advantage of the clearing weather and the fresh powder. (more…)

The alkali fly emerging from its pupa case in the Mono Lake Committee's brine shrimp tank. Photo by Rose Catron.

Last Saturday a bit of excitement stirred up an otherwise uneventful afternoon at the Mono Lake Committee’s Information Center & Bookstore. I came out of the back office to find Rose, our store manager, standing riveted before the brine shrimp tank. “You have to see this!” she said. I peered into the tank. An alkali fly, its body glowing silver under the artificial light, was just emerging from a pupa case attached to a rock at the bottom of the tank. We watched transfixed as the fully-formed fly peddled its legs against the water, trying to find some purchase that would allow it to detach itself completely from the sticky case. (more…)

Anyone taking a look at the water from County Park or the Old Marina boardwalk could tell you that there are a lot of birds on Mono Lake. Gulls, phalaropes, avocets, killdeer—the list goes on and on. But the exact numbers of these birds is not so easy to determine. In the case of the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), an accurate count requires a small airplane, a digital camera, a calm day, and a lot of white plastic trash compactor bags. (more…)

Yesterday morning, Mono Works Landscaping planted a row of seedling Jeffrey pines outside the Lee Vining Community Center as part of an effort to decorate this public space with native plants. The young trees will certainly need all the help they can get to survive the hot sun and dense clay soil of the area.

Their most urgent need, according to Mono Works, is shade! A young spruce or aspen sapling planted nearby might prove the deciding factor in the survival struggle of the baby Jeffreys. Unfortunately, the budget of the project is not sufficient to cover the expense of a leafy tree or two in addition to the pines.

Anyone who would be interested in donating a young shade tree to benefit native plant landscaping at the Community Center is encouraged to contact Mono Works at (760) 647-6418 or (760) 937-2944, or the Mono Lake Committee at (760) 647-6595.

Informational brochures about the Mono Lake Committee, the natural history of the Mono Basin, and the Lee Vining Creek Trail are now available in four languages! Visitors from around the world can find translations into Spanish, French, and Italian both in our bookstore and on our website.

Folletos informativos sobre el Comité del Lago Mono, la historia natural de la Cuenca del Lago Mono, y el riachuelo de Lee Vining están ahora disponibles en cuatros idiomas! Visitantes de todo el mundo pueden obtener traducciones en español, frances, e italiano en nuestra librería o en nuestro sitio web.

Dépliants d’information sur le Comité du Lac Mono, l’histoire naturelle du bassin Mono, et le ruisseau Lee Vining sont maintenant disponibles en quatre langues! Touristes venant du monde entier peuvent trouver traductions en espagnol, français, et italien dans notre librairie ou sur notre site web.

Opuscoli informativi sul Comitato del Lago Mono, la storia naturale del bacino Mono, ed il torrente Lee Vining sono ora disponibili in quattro lingue! Turisti provenienti da tutto il mondo possono trovare traduzioni in spagnolo, francese, ed italiano nella nostra libreria oppure sul nostro sito web.

Long Live Mono Lake!
¡Viva Lago Mono!
Vive le lac Mono!
Viva il lago Mono!

It’s hard to believe summer’s almost over. The air is cooler, the days are shorter, and leaves are beginning to turn brown along the streams of the Mono Basin—but sweet clover and woolly mullein are still flourishing near Mill Creek. This coming Wednesday is your last chance to help make a dent in this season’s population of weeds, and we need all the help we can get.

The fourth and final pulling party of the summer will be held at the Mill Creek culvert on Cemetery Road from 9am to 12pm on Wednesday, September 1st. If you have an hour or two to spare, please drop by to chat, eat snacks, and take down non-native plants.

Over the past two months 56 volunteers have (more…)

Weeding is a remarkably therapeutic activity. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm, letting your mind drift along with the current as you tug at clover roots in a shady nook along Mill Creek’s bank. Every now and then you take a break, settling back with some fresh fruit and cookies (courtesy of the Mono Lake Committee) to admire the view of Gilcrest and Dunderberg flanking Lundy Canyon to the west. After a couple of hours your work is done, and you load the weeds into garbage bags and drive back to the Committee for the most exciting part of the morning: (more…)

It was hot and dry down at the Mill Creek culvert last Wednesday — perfect weather for a party! An invasive plant pulling party, that is.  Volunteers and interns enjoyed free snacks and sunshine as we worked, and whenever we needed a break the icy cold creek water invited us to wade right in.  After only two hours the four of us had uprooted sixty pounds of woolly mullein and sweet clover!

Defeating invasive weeds in the Mono Basin may seem like a lost cause, but even an hour or two of pulling can make a huge difference in (more…)