Anyone taking a look at the water from County Park or the Old Marina boardwalk could tell you that there are a lot of birds on Mono Lake. Gulls, phalaropes, avocets, killdeer—the list goes on and on. But the exact numbers of these birds is not so easy to determine. In the case of the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), an accurate count requires a small airplane, a digital camera, a calm day, and a lot of white plastic trash compactor bags. (more…)

Last month the Lee Vining High School principal and teachers invited me to participate in a three-day outing to Yosemite National Park with the whole school. I felt very happy with the offer since I’ve wanted to do such a trip with the local high school for a long time. For many years I have worked with Lee Vining Elementary School doing environmental education outings, but never with the high school students. The field trip was divided into day-long outings and we went to places like Olmsted Point, Pothole Dome, Yosemite Valley, and Lembert Dome.

Lee Vining High School at the top of Lembert Dome in Yosemite.

(more…)

Rain delays the Mars rover's Mono Lake excursion.

On Sunday, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA brought a prototype Mars rover to Mono Lake, staging it under tents at the Scenic Area Visitor Center while they prepared it to go down to the lake. The plan was to test the rover’s sampling equipment and procedures in an environment that, while unlike Mars, would provide some Mars-like challenges. In the search for evidence of past life on Mars, scientists think that areas on Mars that had terminal lakes like Mono Lake might have sustained life, and preserved evidence of it.

This isn’t the first time NASA has tested its methods at Mono Lake. In August 1995, NASA used (more…)

On Sunday, I climbed Mt. Andrea Lawrence. That is not an official name for the peak … yet. Last week the House of Representatives passed HR 5194, the “Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act of 2010.” People are already referring to the peak by this name, and (more…)

No, that’s not a typo. It’s true, we’re sending out the 2012 Mono Lake Calendar call for submissions. If you’re already on the calendar mailing list, there’s a letter heading your way. If you’re a photographer interested in submitting, click here for the submission information and read on for details.

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 (more…)

Last weekend Lee Vining hosted the 30th Annual Tioga Pass Run, and what an anniversary celebration it was! Over 100 participants raced up Highway 120 west, starting in front of the Mono Lake Committee in Lee Vining, and finishing at the east entrance to Yosemite National Park. That’s 12.4 miles … but only one hill!

And they're off! The Tioga Pass Run participants start the race in front of the Mono Lake Committee in Lee Vining.

The locals once again dominated the run, with 52 participants coming from the Eastern Sierra communities of Bishop, Crowley Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Lee Vining, and Bridgeport. But participants also came from (more…)

After I finished my day’s data collections of stream flows for Mill Creek, I took the time to explore the Mill Creek bottomlands and the Black Point Marsh at the lakeshore. I eagerly hiked down the stream, bushwhacking through sagebrush, stopping to closely observe wildflowers, and frequently crossing the creek to observe curious Killdeer through my borrowed binoculars. Suddenly, completely out of the blue, I stepped onto the pumice sand of the beach and I was in a new world.

Where Mill Creek's water meets Mono Lake.

Not only had I had never seen Mono Lake from this angle, but following the trickle of Mill Creek water into the lake gave my weekly flow measurements and data collections new meaning. I am monitoring (more…)

Did you catch an Osprey in flight with a fish in its talons … a beautiful sunset in a tufa grove … a flower show up Lundy Canyon … a natural history mystery … a beautiful rainstorm over the Mono Craters?  There are 86,400 seconds in a day, which means there are about that many great photographs to be taken at Mono Lake every day.  We know there are some amazing photographs taken by Mono Lake Committee members and friends, and we’d love to see them.

So, you can now share your Mono Lake photos on the Mono Lake Website!

It’s simple: upload your photos to the Mono Lake Flickr group, and they are randomly chosen to appear (more…)

On July 24th the Mono Lake Committee and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly held a fashion show fundraiser for the Outdoor Experiences Program. There was a great turnout for a fun show featuring locals strutting down an astroturf runway in the Lee Vining Community Center.

Trail Chic 2010 models.

Trail Chic is a fundraiser for the Outdoor Experiences program, specifically to raise money for the Bus Money Fund, which helps Los Angeles youth with transportation costs of getting to Mono Lake. Quite often we find school groups, youth groups, and community groups that (more…)

Undaunted by menacing storm clouds, a group of ten volunteers from Patagonia’s Reno store spent Friday afternoon uprooting invasive plants from sites along the Lee Vining Creek Trail. The task seemed pretty hopeless at first, but we removed a whopping sixty-six pounds of bouncing bet and cleared large sections of the trail. Thank you Patagonia!

Bouncing Bet -- before. Photo by Julia Runcie.

Bouncing Bet -- after! Photo by Julia Runcie.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we’ll be holding further “pulling parties” on three Wednesday mornings during the summer: July 28th, August 18th, and September 1st. Pulling Party Number 1 will take place from 9am to 12pm on Wednesday, July 28th at the Mill Creek culvert on Cemetery Road. Meet at the Mono Lake Committee at 9am to carpool to Mill Creek, or join us whenever you can at the culvert. Every little bit counts — stay for twenty minutes, an hour, or the whole morning! Email me with any questions. Watch out weeds!

Patagonia volunteers with 66 lbs of uprooted bouncing bet. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.