Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 by Erik, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Erik, Project SpecialistName: Erik Lyon Title: About: Erik first visited the Mono Lake Committee in September 2010. He learned about the lake's natural and political history as a participant of Whitman College's "Semester in the West," a hundred-day-long environmental field studies program focused on the politics, ecology, and writing of the American West. He quickly took great interest in water policy and hydrology, and is excited to be back at Mono Lake for a third summer as a Project Specialist. At Whitman, Erik finished up a bachelor's degree in Economics with a minor in Biology in 2012, and returned to his alma mater later that year as a staff member for Semester in the West. When he is not at work, Erik can be found playing guitar, hiking, taking photos, and playing volleyball.See All Posts by Erik (6) Contact Erik
Volunteers count California Gull nests at Mono Lake. Photo by Russ Taylor.
You are on a rocky volcanic island surrounded by an alkaline sea. Your only protection from the high-desert sun is your khaki-colored Mono Lake Committee logo bucket hat. It’s also your only protection against the frenzied California Gulls flying every which way and trying, as you suspect, to whitewash you with an airborne “splat!” (more…)
Friday, February 15th, 2013 by Erica, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Erica, Project SpecialistName: Erica Tucker Title: Project Specialist About: Erica learned about Mono Lake Committee while attending the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. She previously taught environmental education in Yosemite National Park and worked as a manager for a San Francisco Bay Area non-profit. During the winter of 2011-2012 she took a birding-focused, 13,000-mile cross country road trip, worked as a milker on a dairy goat farm, and built an 8’ x 16’ tiny house. Erica knows all the good birding spots around Mono Lake and is happy to share them!See All Posts by Erica (13) Contact Erica
It’s a sunny morning as I park by Old Marina and strap on my skis. Do I have my binoculars around my neck? Check. Pen and paper in pocket? Check. Dog treats for my housemate’s puppy, who is ready to go? Check. We’re off on my weekly assignment to monitor Mono Lake’s level.
Equipment for accessing the lake level gauge in winter. Photos by Erica Tucker.
This task was a quick one in the autumn—just a look at the gauge at Old Marina and then a quick drive southeast to the old DWP dock to check the second gauge. Once we got snow (more…)
Thursday, January 31st, 2013 by Erica, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Erica, Project SpecialistName: Erica Tucker Title: Project Specialist About: Erica learned about Mono Lake Committee while attending the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. She previously taught environmental education in Yosemite National Park and worked as a manager for a San Francisco Bay Area non-profit. During the winter of 2011-2012 she took a birding-focused, 13,000-mile cross country road trip, worked as a milker on a dairy goat farm, and built an 8’ x 16’ tiny house. Erica knows all the good birding spots around Mono Lake and is happy to share them!See All Posts by Erica (13) Contact Erica
The Mono Basin Christmas Bird Count on December 19, 2012 recorded just a handful of Eared Grebes on Mono Lake, a shadow of the multitude that passed through during fall migration.
A view west across Mono Lake during the aerial Eared Grebe survey last October. Photo by Arya Degenhardt with aerial support provided by LightHawk.
The Mono Lake Committee coordinated the annual aerial photo survey of the grebes last October. Volunteer LightHawk pilot Geoff Pope and volunteer photographer Stephen Ingram spent a morning flying over and photographing Mono Lake’s surface (more…)
Sunday, October 21st, 2012 by Erica, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Erica, Project SpecialistName: Erica Tucker Title: Project Specialist About: Erica learned about Mono Lake Committee while attending the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. She previously taught environmental education in Yosemite National Park and worked as a manager for a San Francisco Bay Area non-profit. During the winter of 2011-2012 she took a birding-focused, 13,000-mile cross country road trip, worked as a milker on a dairy goat farm, and built an 8’ x 16’ tiny house. Erica knows all the good birding spots around Mono Lake and is happy to share them!See All Posts by Erica (13) Contact Erica
On Saturday morning, October 13, a small plane flew over Mono Lake. It banked multiple times, and then flew across the lake over and over. A sightseer? No, this was scientific research in action—the annual Eared Grebe aerial photo survey!
A view over Mono Lake's eastern shore, looking southwest over the Mono Craters to the Sierra Nevada range. Photo by Arya Degenhardt with aerial support provided by LightHawk.
A bit of background: Eared Grebes nest in the northern Rockies and southern Canada, and visit Mono Lake mid-migration. While here in the fall, they undergo molt and gorge themselves on (more…)
Saturday, October 20th, 2012 by Angie, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Angie, Project SpecialistName: Angie Glaser Title: Project Specialist About: Originally from coastal Southern California, Angie answered the call of the mountains and has spent the past three summers in the Sierra, including one as the Mono Lake Committee's Canoe Coordinator. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara she worked in outdoor education and interned for the National Park Service. When she’s not paddling through swarms of brine shrimp, you can find her backpacking, climbing, or cooking really spicy Thai curry.See All Posts by Angie (25) Contact Angie
Visitors to the Mono Basin and Long Valley area in the next two weeks can expect to see golden aspen trees, snow dusted peaks, and something quite unusual—a lone helicopter flying only 500 feet from the ground.
An example of Mono Basin volcanism: Negit Island, a lava dome on Mono Lake. Photo by Rose Catron.
The helicopter marks an exciting new development in an ongoing project by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to monitor volcanic activity in the Eastern Sierra. (more…)
Friday, October 12th, 2012 by Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistcloseAuthor: Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistName: Greg Reis Title: Information & Restoration Specialist About: Since his Committee internship in 1995, Greg has been involved with Mono Basin stream restoration and with maintaining the Committee's computers, Websites, and Research Library, and researching and compiling information for our programs. His B.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Forestry and Natural Resources with a concentration in Environmental Management and a Senior Project in Hydrology reflect his interests in natural resources management, watershed management, and habitat restoration. He is a member of the California Society for Ecological Restoration and he also works for the Rivers and Delta Program of The Bay Institute.See All Posts by Greg (136) Contact Greg
The October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012 water year recently came to a close. Happy new 2013 water year!
What is a water year?
It is said that hydrologists get to celebrate a new year at least four times a year—January 1st for a calendar year, April 1st for a runoff year, July 1st for a coastal California rainfall year (as well as a fiscal year), and October 1st for a water year. Needless to say, this creates challenges in organizing hydrology data.
Here in the Mono Basin, we typically use the runoff year to summarize most measurements involving stream flows, since (more…)
Saturday, September 29th, 2012 by Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistcloseAuthor: Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistName: Greg Reis Title: Information & Restoration Specialist About: Since his Committee internship in 1995, Greg has been involved with Mono Basin stream restoration and with maintaining the Committee's computers, Websites, and Research Library, and researching and compiling information for our programs. His B.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Forestry and Natural Resources with a concentration in Environmental Management and a Senior Project in Hydrology reflect his interests in natural resources management, watershed management, and habitat restoration. He is a member of the California Society for Ecological Restoration and he also works for the Rivers and Delta Program of The Bay Institute.See All Posts by Greg (136) Contact Greg
Thanks to recent efforts of California Trout, a video of part one of Elden Vestal’s November 3, 1993 deposition is now on YouTube. You can watch the hour and forty-seven minute video here on the Mono Basin Clearinghouse.
Watch the YouTube Video of Elden's 1993 historical testimony here!
Elden was a California Department of Fish & Game Fisheries Biologist whose deposition was instrumental (more…)
In early September I had the privilege of joining PRBO Conservation Science researcher Kristie Nelson and small group of volunteers in an excursion to Mono Lake’s islets for the annual California Gull mortality count (otherwise known as the “Mort Count”).
On the boat out to the Mort Count sites at Mono Lake. Photo by Max Henkels.
This was the third and final trip that the gull researchers made to the islands this summer. In July, Birding Intern Erica Tucker helped out with chick-banding in a trip she chronicled last month on the Mono-logue. My experience on the islands was much different from hers (more…)
Friday, September 21st, 2012 by Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistcloseAuthor: Greg, Information & Restoration SpecialistName: Greg Reis Title: Information & Restoration Specialist About: Since his Committee internship in 1995, Greg has been involved with Mono Basin stream restoration and with maintaining the Committee's computers, Websites, and Research Library, and researching and compiling information for our programs. His B.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Forestry and Natural Resources with a concentration in Environmental Management and a Senior Project in Hydrology reflect his interests in natural resources management, watershed management, and habitat restoration. He is a member of the California Society for Ecological Restoration and he also works for the Rivers and Delta Program of The Bay Institute.See All Posts by Greg (136) Contact Greg
The summer of 2012 was hot. But how hot? As we celebrate the Autumnal Equinox and the end of summer, let’s take a look back and see how the weather this year (so far) compared to previous years. Our focus is on temperatures—every month this year has had above-average temperatures. In October, we will summarize the meager precipitation and snowfall that fell during the dry October 1, 2011–September 30, 2012 Water Year. (more…)
Friday, September 7th, 2012 by Nick, Project SpecialistcloseAuthor: Nick, Project SpecialistName: Nick Holt Title: Project Specialist About: Originally from San Diego, Nick spent the summers of 2007, 2008, and 2012 with the Mono Lake Committee. Recently back from hiking the John Muir Trail, Nick works on IT problems, troubleshoots computer issues, and maintains the Committee's network, server, and computer systems. He spent four years at UC Berkeley making weekend trips to the Sierra as much as possible and earning a degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. When out of the office, you can probably find Nick somewhere in the mountains fishing, mountaineering, hiking, climbing, or back in Lee Vining working on his newest pursuit: gardening.See All Posts by Nick (3) Contact Nick
Skypilot (Polemonium eximium) are found in the high Sierra above treeline, including near the summit of Mt. Dana. Photo by Nick Holt.
America’s National Parks and extensive wilderness system provides millions of acres of unspoiled lands in which we can all escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a day, a week, or even months at a time. Enjoying our protected public lands is not the only activity we can pursue in the great outdoors, however.
Adventurers & Scientists for Conservation is a nonprofit founded by Gregg Treinish after he was able to partake in the adventure of a lifetime—trekking 7,800 miles along the length of the Andes, worthy of 2008 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year honors—but he felt (more…)
