It’s that time of year again, time for the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) count at Mono Lake. Most visitors in the Mono Basin can easily say that they have seen a lot of birds at the County Park and Old Marina sites, but how many grebes are there exactly? That’s where photographer Rick Kattelmann, volunteer Lighthawk pilot Geoff Pope, and researcher Sean Boyd come into the picture.

What look like tiny white specks in a black abyss are actually Eared Grebes on the surface of Mono Lake. There are 76 dots in this photo. Photo by Rick Kattelmann.

Since the mid-1990s aerial photographs have been taken of the lake surface. These surveys of the Eared Grebe populations are (more…)

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.

Calling all photographers! The call for submission for the 2013 Mono Lake Calendar is here. If you are interested in submitting, click here for the submission information and read on for details. The submission deadline is Monday, October 31, 2011.

Since 1986, the magnificent geological and ecological wonders of Mono Lake have been celebrated in the Mono Lake Calendar, published by the Mono Lake Committee. Sales of the calendar help to fund the efforts (more…)

In 2011, with decreased funding and increased visitation, volunteers were more important than ever. Volunteers answered questions for visitors at the lake shore and at the Forest Service Visitor Center, led tours at South Tufa and Panum Crater, and helped out with numerous special events.

In late August we celebrated another great summer season of volunteering with the annual volunteer appreciation party. Thank you, volunteers, for your countless hours talking with visitors and enriching their experience in the Mono Basin!

Our 2011 volunteers celebrate the end of a successful season.

A special thank you to this year’s Volunteer of the Year, Jo Bacon. Jo is trained and ready for anything, from (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.

If you own a shovel and you like to dig, then you should consider becoming a geomorphologist. Geomorphologist Scott Stine has been digging holes in the Mono Basin since 1979. Last week during the second presentation in the Mono Lake Committee’s series, Refreshments with Refreshing ‘Ologists, Scott discussed the volcanic history of Mono Lake’s islands.

By digging holes, Scott can date (more…)

By this time in the summer many thanks are due to all the amazing people who have volunteered their time pulling invasive plants and watering trees at Restoration Wednesdays for the past two months. We at the Mono Lake Committee want to say a special thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, Ken & Gayle Midas as well as Donna & Jerry Farris, who have donated their time every Wednesday for the past month and a half to aid in restoration efforts. They have enthusiastically pulled enormous (more…)

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…)