Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
If you haven’t experienced poconip, or ice fog, at Mono Lake, I recommend it. It usually happens when it’s sunny in most other parts of the Eastern Sierra, and the ground is frozen or snow-covered.
Rime ice in the Lee Vining Creek riparian area.
The fog can be quite thick, and it is very chilly inside the fog layer—keeping temperatures below freezing all day. The poconip creates rime ice on (more…)
Monday, January 7th, 2013 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
We are sad to relay the news that longtime supporter and friend to Mono Lake, Huell Howser has passed away. Huell introduced countless people to Mono Lake through his first visit with “California’s Gold” in 1992 and then again in 2008 when he returned to film another episode, “Mono Lake Today,” about the exciting restoration progress.
Huell Howser paddling at South Tufa with Mono Lake Committee Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin in 2008. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.
It’s not uncommon for us to hear visitors say, “I first learned about Mono Lake from Huell Howser (more…)
Monday, December 31st, 2012 by Elin, Communications CoordinatorcloseAuthor: Elin, Communications CoordinatorName: Elin Ljung Title: Communications Coordinator About: Elin's job consists of some of her favorite things: finding typos, experimenting with layouts, and figuring out how best to communicate the Committee's work to the world. She also oversees the Field Seminar program. Elin is an EMT on the Lee Vining Fire Department, loves sitting at Latte Da Coffee Cafe immersed in a good book, and watches English Premier League football (soccer) at any opportunity.See All Posts by Elin (133) Contact Elin
Number 1 on our Top Ten highlights list is the remodeled Committee storefront—a multi-year process culminating in the construction and grand re-opening this past summer!
The crowd gathered for the storefront grand re-opening in August! Photo by Arya Degenhardt.
Among the many highlights and wonderful moments (more…)
Friday, December 28th, 2012 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
Number 4 on our Top Ten highlights list is a compendium of things that have made this year particularly memorable. One of the great things about living in the Mono Basin is that life is infused with the happenings of the natural world.
Since pictures are worth a thousand words….
Dry years can mean cold temperatures without precipitation, which makes good conditions for ice skating. We rang in the year with some seriously memorable ice skating on very-frozen lakes such as Lundy Lake Reservoir shown here. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.
Thursday, December 27th, 2012 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
Thursday, December 20th, 2012 by Arya, Communications DirectorcloseAuthor: Arya, Communications DirectorName: Arya Degenhardt Title: Communications Director About: Arya oversees the Committee's communications program, which includes the Mono Lake Newsletter. She loves her job because she gets to share the inspiring work of the Mono Lake Committee with members and visitors alike. When she's not in the office you might find her running with her dogs Dublin and Poco, volunteering with the Lee Vining Fire Department, listening to any music with a banjo in it, or willing the plants in her garden to grow. Her favorite things to do in the Mono Basin include ice skating on nearby lakes, skiing the Mono Craters, and getting to smell the sagebrush when it rains.See All Posts by Arya (91) Contact Arya
If you’ve been in the Information Center & Bookstore in the past few years you’ve seen the brine shrimp tank in the hallway. Directly on the other side of that tank is the hallway that leads to the room that Geoff McQuilkin and I call our office. In the summer we get used to the din of people checking out the brine shrimp, and in the winter it’s pretty quiet. So, yesterday my ears perked up at the sound of a small herd of snow-boot-wearing kids. It was the Lee Vining Elementary Kindergarten class paying us a visit.
I think I probably don’t need to say much more than, especially right now, it was a really heartwarming moment that I thought Mono Lake Committee members and friends would enjoy too.
Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 by Elin, Communications CoordinatorcloseAuthor: Elin, Communications CoordinatorName: Elin Ljung Title: Communications Coordinator About: Elin's job consists of some of her favorite things: finding typos, experimenting with layouts, and figuring out how best to communicate the Committee's work to the world. She also oversees the Field Seminar program. Elin is an EMT on the Lee Vining Fire Department, loves sitting at Latte Da Coffee Cafe immersed in a good book, and watches English Premier League football (soccer) at any opportunity.See All Posts by Elin (133) Contact Elin
The Mono Lake Committee’s 2012 Annual Report is hot off the press and available to view online!
Read about the 2011 projects and activities in our focus areas of protection, stream restoration, education, and scientific research. View the Committee’s financial (more…)
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 by Elin, Communications CoordinatorcloseAuthor: Elin, Communications CoordinatorName: Elin Ljung Title: Communications Coordinator About: Elin's job consists of some of her favorite things: finding typos, experimenting with layouts, and figuring out how best to communicate the Committee's work to the world. She also oversees the Field Seminar program. Elin is an EMT on the Lee Vining Fire Department, loves sitting at Latte Da Coffee Cafe immersed in a good book, and watches English Premier League football (soccer) at any opportunity.See All Posts by Elin (133) Contact Elin
Winter at Mono Lake: a lifting morning poconip fog, tufa towers jacketed in snow and reflected in the mirror of the lake’s surface, ice sculpting crystalline filigree along creek and lake banks.
This photography seminar will be based in Lee Vining and will explore locations along the lake to photograph the serenity and beauty that is the Mono Basin in winter. (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 (9) 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…)
Friday, October 19th, 2012 by Elin, Communications CoordinatorcloseAuthor: Elin, Communications CoordinatorName: Elin Ljung Title: Communications Coordinator About: Elin's job consists of some of her favorite things: finding typos, experimenting with layouts, and figuring out how best to communicate the Committee's work to the world. She also oversees the Field Seminar program. Elin is an EMT on the Lee Vining Fire Department, loves sitting at Latte Da Coffee Cafe immersed in a good book, and watches English Premier League football (soccer) at any opportunity.See All Posts by Elin (133) Contact Elin
This looks like the best weekend yet for beautiful fall color in the Mono Basin … drop everything and come on over!
Golden cottonwoods line lower Mill Creek, in a capture from the Mono Lake Committee's Mill Creek webcam.
The Sacramento Bee reports that Conway Summit, Lundy Canyon, Lee Vining Canyon, and the June Lake Loop are all at the peak (more…)
beauty that is the Mono Basin in winter. 
