Wednesday, October 31 is the deadline for submissions to the 2014 Mono Lake Calendar.

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 of our non-profit organization to protect and restore both the lake and the Mono Basin. (more…)

Calling all photographers! The call for submission for the 2014 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 Wednesday, October 31, 2012.

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 of our non-profit organization to protect and restore both the lake and the Mono Basin.

The Mono Lake Calendar has been widely acclaimed for its artistic merit, due in large measure to the talent of the photographers whose work is (more…)

On Friday, August 3, community members, friends, and Mono Lake Committee staff and members gathered to celebrate the re-opening of the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore storefront. The improvements, made possible in part by a generous bequest from longtime Committee member Grace de Laet, were three years in the making, with many decisions, large and small, to make along the way. Let’s take a look at the remodel process and some pictures of our new storefront.

In July 2010, Mono Lake Committee staff met with architects Siegel & Strain to brainstorm ideas for the new storefront. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

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Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted a record number of nature enthusiasts who flocked to Lee Vining for the 11th annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua.

Quick, everyone look over here! Photo by Rose Catron.

Two hundred and sixty-three nature appreciators of all ages attended over 80 field trips, workshops, and presentations. There were plenty of walks focused on bird appreciation, but plant, flower, dragonfly, butterfly, mammal, geology, astronomy, photography, art, nature journaling, and story-telling events were also very (more…)

Take a look at Mono Lake from above, courtesy of Venue, a new project of the Nevada Museum of Art.

Over the next fifteen months, Venue will travel around North America exploring the continent. The project aims to provide venues for exchanging ideas in rural places since so many interesting ideas, people, phenomena, projects, and places can be found far from cities … just like Mono Lake!

This morning we changed the angle of the Remodel Cam to show the metal frame of our roughly ten-foot-square Mono Lake map out in front of the store. The map will be filled with blue concrete sometime in the next week, with a pale stain for Paoha Island and a dark stain for Negit Island. Keep your eye on the cam to see the concrete map take shape….

Staff and contractors admire the lake frame before getting it oriented just right. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

A cool detail about the map—the concrete slab around the lake needs seams in order to (more…)

I must start here with an apology for the tongue-in-cheek pun that is the title of this Mono-logue post, which is actually an update on the Mono Lake Committee’s Information Center & Bookstore storefront improvement project. I’m afraid that from my vantage point sitting in the corner of the building closest to the storefront construction project, it simply cannot be avoided. The warm spring combined with the daily activity happening within arms-reach and earshot of my desk chair means that our door opens out onto all the action.

One of the neatest things so far has been the installation of six large boulders around which the front steps are being built. The rocks were carefully drawn into the architects’ plans, so we’ve been excited about them the whole time, but actually making them happen has been unexpectedly cool. (more…)

A week ago Saturday an unusual event took place on the Dana Glacier at the Sierra Crest. As part of Climate Impacts Day, a project organized by 350.org, a group of climbers unfurled an 80-foot-square banner that read “I’m melting” across the glacier. And it’s true.

Dana Glacier's "I'm melting" banner. Photo courtesy of 350.org.

The article includes a quote about the Sierra’s dramatically-shrinking glaciers from Yosemite National Park’s geologist Greg Stock: “Given the amount of change we’ve seen even over the past few decades, I think it’s safe to say that those glaciers will be gone in 100 years. They may even be gone in 50 years and there’s a chance that some of them will be gone in 20 years.”

Change is positive, necessary, and good. And change is what we’re about to see out in front of the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore starting tomorrow morning as the storefront remodel gets underway. Are you ready?

For the past few days I’ve been poking around out front taking photos to document what things look like before the remodel, and generally just getting used to the idea that this project, years in the making, is actually going to happen.

The Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore on the morning of March 27, 2012.

Today we took away all of the things we want to keep … the wine barrels for flowers, the river rocks that marked the garden areas, the signs from inside the kiosk out front. Yes, we kept the rocks.

Geoff McQuilkin and Rose Catron saving soil from the old planters before the construction crew arrives.

It’s impossible not to get excited for things like the new deck to welcome people into the store, the seating areas for visitors, the new greywater system, the ADA-accessible lift, and the drinking fountain and water bottle filling station.

A conceptual drawing of the storefront remodel. Drawing courtesy of Siegel & Strain Architects.

There’s a little bit of nostalgia too. I haven’t (more…)

For a beautiful break in your workday, take a look at this moving slideshow about the “magnificent 70″—those state parks on the closure list. See if you can recognize those that have been removed….

Saddleback Butte State Park in Antelope Valley.

Morro Strand State Beach on the Central Coast.

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park in Northern California.