It’s official! Peak 12,240 on the border between Yosemite National Park and the Inyo National Forest is now named Mt. Andrea Lawrence, thanks to legislation signed into law last week by President Obama.

The newly named Mt. Andrea Lawrence, center, on the boundary of Yosemite National Park, January 2013. Photo by Geoffrey McQuilkin.

The prominent but previously unnamed peak, which has been visited by several Mono Lake Committee staff members since the naming effort began, has sweeping views across Yosemite, the upper San Joaquin River drainage, and the Rush Creek–Mono (more…)

Number 2 on our Top Ten highlights list is the intensive process of planning for a 21st century aqueduct that can deliver restoration flows to Mono Lake’s tributaries at the times they need it the most, deliver water to Mono Lake so it can rise to the management level of 6392 feet above sea level, as well as efficiently export water to Los Angeles.

An aerial view of Rush Creek, the Rush Creek return ditch, and Grant Lake Reservoir, which are key to the 21st century aqueduct discussions. Photo by Geoffrey McQuilkin.

If you’ve been following the Mono Lake Newsletter, you’ll know that the Committee has been working intensively on this process for nearly two years. (more…)

Number 3 on our Top Ten highlights list is the solution that is keeping Mono Lake’s state park open and operating.

Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve Interpretive Specialist Dave Marquart at Old Marina explaining how the new parking fee keeps the park open. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

A little more than a year ago, we found out that the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve had been removed from the state’s closure list. The next day we began working on a plan for keeping the park open—the solution is a modest parking fee at Old Marina of only $3.00 per vehicle. An “iron ranger” for collecting fees was installed in May, and visitors to Old Marina have been dropping their fee envelopes in ever since!

Number 9 on our Top Ten highlight list is the outpouring of feedback about Caltrans’ Lee Vining Rockfall Safety Project, the most recent Caltrans project proposed for the Mono Basin.

One of the Rockfall Project slopes, in a view from Old Marina. Photo by Geoff McQuilkin.

This project will address six roadcuts on the west side of Highway 395 near Old Marina, increasing safety by preventing rocks from falling onto the road. When we put out a call for comment letters to Mono Lake Committee members about Caltrans’ draft initial study document, you responded in force (more…)

Erica and Rose at Lundy Lake Reservoir. Photo by Lynette Villagomez.

The sole of a shoe, a child’s rubber ball, and a bait container printed with the phrase “please do not litter”—what do these items have in common?

All were found and picked up by sharp-eyed Mono Lake enthusiasts during the Great Sierra River Cleanup, held on September 15. This was the (more…)

Please take a moment to send a letter to the California Department of Transportation today—now is the time to make your voice heard for a safe, ecologically-sound project!

The Lee Vining Rockfall Safety Project has the potential to solve old eroding roadcuts next to Mono Lake but only if Caltrans combines permanent slope stabilization with aggressive and guaranteed revegetation measures. Otherwise, a unmitigated version of the project will remove existing trees and shrubs, creating more erosion and permanent visual scars on the landscape.

There public comment deadline is September 24 and now is the time to make your voice heard on behalf of Mono Lake. To learn more about the Caltrans Rockfall Project, please visit our action center and send a letter today asking Caltrans to do the right thing for Mono Lake.

Mono Lake Intern Lynette Villagomez recording measurements at Mill Creek.

For many Mono Lake interns, one of the main draws of working for the Mono Lake Committee is the opportunity to work outdoors in the Mono Basin. One of the opportunities to do this is the weekly stream monitoring that the Committee carries out at Mill Creek. Mill Creek monitoring, as we call it around the office, is part of the broad effort to track the status of the streamflows and ecology of the five creeks that feed Mono Lake from the Sierra Nevada. (more…)

The Sacramento Bee has been investigating the millions of dollars that were set aside and covered up by Sacramento administrators of the state park system. The initial news led to the resignation of State Park Director Ruth Coleman; over the past weekend the Bee reported more details.

Official investigation reports are still pending and will reveal (more…)

Each May, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) submits its annual compliance report to the State Water Resources Control Board. This report contains not only compliance reporting, but the reports from the previous year’s lake and stream monitoring.

Some highlights from the 2011 monitoring include:

• Brine shrimp abundance peaked at over 40,000 shrimp per square meter for seven of the last eight years. This level was only exceeded in five other years during the 1980s (monitoring began in 1982). But it has happened almost every year since 2004.
• The “centroid” of the brine shrimp distribution over time has peaked earlier and earlier each year—as Mono Lake’s salinity has declined, the shrimp have (more…)

Please take a moment to send a letter to the California Department of Transportation today—now is the time to make your voice heard for a safe, ecologically-sound project!

A view of roadcut 4 from the Old Marina entrance with a visual simulation of the mesh drapery proposed in Option 1. Visual simulation courtesy of the Caltrans Lee Vining Rockfall Safety Project Initial Study.

The Lee Vining Rockfall Safety Project has the potential to solve old eroding roadcuts next to Mono Lake but only if Caltrans combines permanent slope stabilization with aggressive and guaranteed revegetation measures. Otherwise, a poorly-conceived (more…)