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…)

California Gulls at their Mono Lake nesting grounds. Photo by Nora Livingston.

Last weekend, Mono Lake Volunteer Coordinator and avid Mono naturalist Janet Carle watched about 50 California Gulls arrive at South Tufa, flying in an organized V formation. Janet reports that once they were over the water, they began circling and calling; she says “It looked like they decided they had arrived at the right place!”

Red-winged Blackbird. Photo courtesy of Alan D. Wilson.

Last Tuesday morning I awoke in my Lee Vining house to the sound of Red-winged Blackbirds calling in the elm tree outside. Right on schedule, they seem to arrive back in the Mono Basin just about March 1 of each year, trilling their cheerful “o-ka-lee” calls throughout town. (more…)

Mono Lake's endemic brine shrimp (Artemia monica).

A few days ago I cross-country skied out to the shoreline to measure Mono Lake’s exact height above sea level, now 6381.99 feet. I knelt down at the water’s edge to admire the still green water, and could hardly believe my eyes.  First one tiny hatchling, then another, then five more full-size brine shrimp sculling in circles on their backs—I counted over twenty in all. (more…)

If you went on a Friday morning bird walk last summer, you most-likely met Birding Intern Nick Neely. Among Neely’s many accolades, being a writer for High Country News’ “Writers on the Range” series, is one. His recent article, “Alien life, it turns out, is much closer than Mars” deftly weaves the story of the discovery of GFAJ-1 with its home turf at Mono Lake. I highly recommend giving his article a read.

Thanks to those avid snow-seekers known as “skiers,” you can see December’s huge snowstorms blanket the western United States all over again. The folks at Skiing Interactive Daily have compiled time-lapse satellite imagery from December 12–23, which shows the impressive buildup of snow at several of the West’s major ski areas.

Click here, wait for the page to load (be patient), press “play,” and be amazed.

The action for Mono Lake began on December 15 … pay close attention to the “Mammoth” tab as the snowpack calculation skyrockets. And remember, what happened at Mammoth happened at Mono Lake too! As we near the end of a dry January, it’s fun to look back at the big storms … and pray for more to come.

As the Information Center & Bookstore Manager, I have the opportunity to spend a lot of time interacting with visitors who walk into our store. Some are members and know the lake well, and some have never even heard of Mono Lake before and just desperately want to use the bathroom. One of the best aspects of working with the public so much is the opportunity to talk to people about the wonders of Mono Lake. I love  seeing how inspired and excited people get as they hear our story—the ups and downs, the difficulties and victories, and the work we do now.

Another one of my favorite parts about working at the counter is hearing people’s positive feedback about our Information Center and the Mono Basin. Visitors rave about our books, gifts, wonderful seasonal staff, and the magic of their time down at the tufa towers. Members reminisce about meeting David Gaines, the time they rode in the Bike-A-Thon, or the moment they first visited the Mono Basin and saw the lake teeming with brine shrimp and flies. Sometimes people email me days after their visit to share a story or thank a specific staff member for their help. Recently I received a chocolate bar all the way from Germany as a thank you for helping some travelers when their car broke down!

Our store is an amazing place to hear about people’s encounters with Mono Lake, whether it’s their first time visiting the lake, or one of many stretching back over the years. To our visitors from both near and far, and our members: thank you for your stories and kind words!

From all of us here at the Mono Lake Committee, thank you.

On this Thanksgiving Day, we feel thankful for your generous donations, faithful support, views of our website, comments on our Mono-logue posts, visits to our Lee Vining headquarters, phone calls from far away, emails asking about our work, and above all, for your love for Mono Lake. Thank you and happy Thanksgiving.

Last night at around 8:00pm the blustery winds of our first big winter storm gave way to a peaceful evening lit by a full moon. Though at first we were daunted by the prospect of digging my car out of eight inches of snow, OE Instructor Rosa and I decided we had to take advantage of the clearing weather and the fresh powder. (more…)