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…)

Join us for the second speaker in our lecture series, “Refreshments with Refreshing ‘ologists.” On Wednesday, August 10 we will host geomorphologist Scott Stine, a longtime member of the Mono Basin Science Council. Scott’s work has included researching many different topics ranging from lake level fluctuations to dating ages of tufa towers, and his talk will be focused on the volcanic history of Mono Lake’s islands. The talk will begin at 4:00pm in the Mono Lake Committee’s Theater & Gallery. Refreshments will be served. Contact Sarah at (760) 647-6595 for more information!

If you had chosen to visit the small town of Lee Vining at 2:30 in the morning on July 12th, you would have found a peculiar sight in the Mono Lake Committee’s Field Station alley: four intrepid souls huddled together under the three-quarter moon armed to the teeth with binoculars. A very peculiar ritual was about to begin wherein four birders attempt to identify as many different species of birds as they can within a defined geographic area in a full 24-hour period. Every second counts and there are no stops for lunch.

Oliver James, Chris McCreedy, and Justin Hite scan the skies.

The birders were none other than Justin Hite (Mono Basin naturalist), Oliver James (Committee Birding Intern), Nora Livingston (PRBO Conservation Science Field Technician), and Chris McCreedy (PRBO Conservation Science biologist). The playing field was Mono County. The existing record was (more…)

American White Pelicans over Mono Lake. Photo by Tom Piekunka.

In March and April the brine shrimp are too small and alkali flies are scarce. Mono Lake does not get a lot of attention from birds on their spring migration, especially piscivores. But the birds do pass by as they wing north along the Pacific Flyway. Recently a large flock of American White Pelicans transited the Mono Basin. It’s a rare and spectacular sight to see these massive birds soaring overhead. Tom Piekunka snapped this beautiful image of American White Pelicans circling over the eastern portion of Mono Lake. With a steady hand and 400mm lens Tom was able to capture the nuptial tubercles located on the upper bills, a feature that adult pelicans grow each year as the breeding season approaches.

Sometime during the night of March 15, during another Sierra winter storm, a large rock broke loose from the northern ridge above Lundy Canyon. The van-sized boulder tumbled down hundreds of feet before it found a new home along the southern shoulder of the Lundy Road. Jeffrey pines were the only witnesses to, and victims of, the boulder’s kinetic journey. The local Mono County/Lee Vining road crew discovered the chunk of granite the morning of March 16 as they returned to plow the road. The rock fall occurred along a stretch of road containing several day-use areas, about a half-mile below the Lundy Canyon campground. The accelerated expansion of the universe excepted, gravity always gets its way.

New, temporary addition to the Lundy Canyon Road.

More than just snow falls in Lundy Canyon. Notice small dent in road.

Bowling for Jeffreys. There must be a dead squirrel around here somewhere!

Yesterday I woke up to a Say’s Phoebe’s windy call outside my window. Today I went for a little cross-country ski at lunch. What does that mean? It’s time for the Winter & Spring 2011 Mono Lake Newsletter to sprout.

As snowflakes fell this winter the Mono Lake Committee staff wrote up a storm of their own. You’ll find great articles on GFAJ-1 (the infamous arsenic-eating bacteria), the unusual winter flows on Rush Creek, a status report on the California Gull colony, a fresh look at Mill Creek’s water, the Mono Lake Committee’s mission to balance the water (more…)