Number 8 of the top 11 of 2011 is actually recognition of three major celebrations—the Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner, the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, and the Defender of the Trust Award ceremony. Yee-haw! (more…)

Kicking off the top 11 of 2011 is the fact that it was a very big water year! First there was the snowy winter, then there was the spring that just kept going, and then there was enough rain in August that the lake was still climbing for a water year (October 1–September 30) total rise of 2.1 feet! A big water year means not only (more…)

On December 1, 2011 (the same day that the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve was taken off the closure list), a new bird for Mono County was discovered by Jean Dillingham in June Lake. A Common Redpoll hit Jean’s window in the morning. She collected the dazed bird outside and brought it in to see if it could be saved. To her amazement, the bird was unlike any she had ever seen in the Eastern Sierra. She quickly figured it was (more…)

In a recent email from National Geographic I noticed a photo of a familiar place in a gallery called “Habitats–Freshwater Photos.”

I blinked and looked more closely, surprised to see saline Mono Lake pictured alongside places like Bow Lake in Canada’s Banff National Park, the Okefenokee Swamp in the southeastern US, and the Yellowstone River—all clearly bodies of fresh water. But the more I thought about it, (more…)

Great news for fans of Andrea Lawrence and those tracking the renaming of peak 12,240! Barbara Boxer introduced the bill last May and it was passed unanimously in the Senate this week. The next step is the House, where Republican Representative Buck McKeon of Santa Clarita has already sponsored the bill.

The peak itself is in Mono County, 0.6 miles northeast of Donahue Peak on the northern border of the Ansel Adams Wilderness and Yosemite National Park.

Andrea Mead Lawrence was (more…)

If you had to describe the value of California’s State Parks in only one word, what would that be? What word would you use to describe the value of the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve?

See a few answers here in Folk4Parks.org’s latest video. Former ranger Janet Carle and current ranger Dave Marquart share their words. The Mono Lake Committee’s Morgan Lindsay and Geoff McQuilkin each have a word. What’s your one word?

Fall color along the Highway 395 corridor is starting to make itself known with yellow and orange ribbons of aspens gracing the Eastside’s steep riparian corridors from Bishop to the Mono Basin and beyond.

Fall color at high elevations in the Mono Basin. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

Aspen groves at higher elevations are definitely changing—such as the east-facing flanks above Lundy Canyon and below Conway Summit.

I’ve also heard reports that the colors are beautiful in the Sagehen Summit area out Highway 120 East as well as early color around the Lee Vining diversion dam up Highway 120 West.

Who knows what the incoming stormy weather will do to the progression of color, but I highly recommend getting out there as soon as possible.

Summer is truly winding down for many feathered friends here in the Mono Basin.

Red-necked Phalarope. Photo courtesy of Stiver Photos.

The songbird symphony that follows any hiker around the basin from April through mid-August is now merely a murmur. Many of the colorful summer vacationers to the Eastern Sierra (e.g. buntings, orioles, grosbeaks) are still present in the basin, but (more…)

By this time in the summer many thanks are due to all the amazing people who have volunteered their time pulling invasive plants and watering trees at Restoration Wednesdays for the past two months. We at the Mono Lake Committee want to say a special thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, Ken & Gayle Midas as well as Donna & Jerry Farris, who have donated their time every Wednesday for the past month and a half to aid in restoration efforts. They have enthusiastically pulled enormous (more…)