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2012 Field Seminars
Registration for the Mono Lake Committee's 2012 Field Seminars is currently open to members only.
If you are not a Mono Lake Committee member but you wish to register in February, you may become a member of the Committee and sign up for the class of your choice.
Non-members will be able to register beginning Thursday, March 1, 2012.
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Burned Forest Ecology
June 8–10
Stephen Shunk
$150 per person / $135 for members
Join North American woodpecker specialist Steve Shunk for this dynamic introduction to burned forest ecology in the Mono Basin. Western forests evolved with fire as a critical part of their ecological health. For well over 100 years, humans have attempted to suppress fire, in effect removing this crucial component of forest ecology. How do we balance the needs of society with the need for conservation of healthy forest habitats? Steve started birding in 1989 and has studied the ecology of western forests for the last 14 years. He recently completed the Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America, and he will spend his second season in summer 2012 studying the Black-backed Woodpeckers of the Sierra Nevada.
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South Shore Kayak
June 10
Stuart Wilkinson & Committee staff
$90 per person / $80 for members
limited to 12 participants
Late spring reveals snow-capped mountains towering over a glassy Mono Lake—a great time to kayak! Join Stuart Wilkinson and a Mono Lake Committee staff member for a guided naturalist expedition along Mono's south shore. This natural history kayak tour will cover a wide variety of topics relating to this unusual Great Basin lake, such as geology, ecology, history, and politics. Expect to see underwater tufa towers, birds, brine shrimp, and lake-bottom springs. Some kayak experience is helpful, but not necessary; kayaks and safety equipment are provided. This seminar is being offered for the 16th year in a row, and is highly rated by past participants. Space is limited in this popular seminar, so register early!
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Birding & Bird Photography
June 12–14
Santiago Escruceria
$150 per person / $135 for members
limited to 12 participants
This seminar will focus on identifying and photographing birds found in the Mono Basin's diverse habitats. The group will visit sagebrush scrub, open meadows, riparian corridors, and montane forests, combining light hiking with observation and photography. Participants should have basic photography skills; this seminar is not a course in photography instruction. Santiago Escruceria is a Colombian-born American citizen who has taught environmental education at the Mono Lake Committee for 12 years. He also runs a birding tour company and leads annual birding tours in the area of Cali, Colombia. This seminar makes a perfect addition to the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua weekend, which begins Friday, June 15.
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Digital Photography Basics
June 22–24
David Gubernick
$225 per person / $200 for members
$10 materials fee
limited to 12 participants
This workshop is designed to demystify the technical terms and functions of your digital SLR camera and enhance your picture-taking abilities in a warm and supportive learning environment. Learn how to get good exposures, read your histogram, understand different f-stops, shutter speeds, shooting modes, ISO settings, depth-of-field, white balance, lens choices, and much more. In addition to mastering the technical aspects of creating images, we will explore the artistry of photography with an emphasis on composition. Through guided practice sessions, field trips in the Mono Basin, coaching in the field, and review of images, you will learn to create better images with visual impact. Participants must bring digital SLR cameras; no point-and-shoot cameras.
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Miwoak-Paiute Basketry
June 29–July 1
Lucy Parker & Julia Parker
$190 per person / $175 for members
$80 materials fee
primitive group campsite included (no pets, please)
limited to 12 participants
During this seminar, participants will prepare materials and create a Miwok-Paiute burden basket—used for gathering pinenuts, acorns, and berries. This seminar is designed for weavers of all levels. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to camp with the group, and evenings will be spent around the campfire with traditional songs and stories. Lucy Parker is a descendent of the Yosemite Miwok, Mono Lake Kutzadika'a, and Kayasha Pomo peoples. She learned traditional handiwork from her mother Julia, a master basket weaver. Julia Parker has dedicated her life to learning and teaching basketry and is the only weaver still practicing who was taught by women who wove in the early 20th century.
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Capturing the Mono Basin in Pastel
July 13–15
Ane Carla Rovetta
$160 per person / $145 for members
$35 materials fee
limited to 12 participants
The sparkling light and radiant skies of the Mono Basin are pure inspiration. Add a set of brilliant pastel chalks and your own unique imagination, and you have an incredible weekend of color exploration and art. Landscape painter Ane Carla Rovetta is known for her realistic depiction of our golden western lands. She will guide students through a value system she modeled after Ansel Adams' work that will help organize the overwhelming hues of the summer terrain. Each participant will go home with at least one small finished painting and several sketches, color studies, and value experiments that will fuel future artistic endeavors. Ane Carla can provide you with your own set of 72 pastel chalks; you must reserve your set when you sign up for the class.
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Los Angeles Aqueduct Tour
July 14
Greg Reis
$90 per person / $80 for members
The Mono Basin extension of the Los Angeles Aqueduct began transporting water 350 miles south to the City of LA in 1941. Visit all the major aqueduct facilities in the Mono Basin and learn about the aqueduct's effects on Mono Lake, its tributary streams, the Upper Owens River, and land management in the area. The group will discuss the history of water diversions, the effort to save Mono Lake, and the future of habitat restoration. Greg Reis is the Committee's Information & Restoration Specialist and the perfect guide for unraveling the Mono Basin's complex and fascinating plumbing—he has over 15 years of experience in Mono Basin hydrology and restoration and he keeps close track of Mono Basin water management.
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The Art of Wildflower Macrophotography
July 20–22
David Gubernick
$250 per person / $225 for members
limited to 8 participants
Learn to take creative and beautiful close-up images, further develop your artistic vision, and enhance your photographic skills in the supportive learning environment of this workshop for beginning to advanced amateur photographers. The weekend will emphasize the artistry of macrophotography and the technical means to render such images; this is not a course in botanical identification. David Gubernick, PhD, is an internationally and nationally published and award-winning nature photographer and workshop leader. This is a popular workshop, garnering rave reviews.
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Summer Birds of the Mono Basin
July 21–22
David Wimpfheimer
$140 per person / $125 for members
This field seminar will concentrate on the identification and ecology of birds that breed in the Mono Basin and others that migrate by Mono Lake during the summer. In sagebrush meadows and riparian and montane forests, the class will explore a number of sites, mixing short leisurely walks with periods of observation and natural history discussion. Woodpeckers, corvids, flycatchers, warblers, and other passerines display fascinating, varied behaviors. However, a major focus will be Mono Lake and other wetlands where phalaropes and other shorebirds feed. David Wimpfheimer has been educating and interpreting birds and California's natural history for over 20 years. His seasoned focus and knowledge make for enjoyable and educational outings.
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Introduction to High Country Plants & Habitats
August 3–5
Ann Howald
$150 per person / $135 for members
This class will explore the mosaic of habitats found in the Eastern Sierra high country—flower-filled meadows fed by meandering streams, sagebrush-covered slopes, lodgepole pine forests, subalpine lakes bordered by willows, and flowery rock gardens. Sight identification of common trees, shrubs, and wildflowers will be emphasized, as well as the many ways that plants, birds, insects, and other wildlife interact in high country habitats. Ann Howald is a consulting botanist and volunteer for the California Native Plant Society and California State Parks. She has taught popular Committee field seminars for over ten years.
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Birding the Migration: Mono Basin & Long Valley
August 4–5
Dave Shuford
$140 per person / $125 for members
The east slope of the Sierra Nevada is a major migration route for birds traveling from northern nesting areas to warm southern habitats. As a result, late summer is the time of year to see the greatest diversity of landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds in the Mono Basin and on Crowley Lake Reservoir. Dave Shuford has been a staff biologist at PRBO Conservation Science for over 30 years. He has conducted numerous surveys and research projects in the Mono Basin and beyond and is well acquainted with where to find birds in the Eastern Sierra.
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Geology of the Mono Basin: Land of Fire & Ice
August 10–12
Greg Stock
$150 per person / $135 for members
From volcanic craters to glacial moraines, earthquake faults to tufa towers, the Mono Basin displays some of the most unique, spectacular, and accessible geology anywhere in the world. This seminar, consisting mostly of field visits to the premier sites, will present in understandable fashion the geologic stories of the Mono Basin. Greg Stock is the first-ever Yosemite National Park geologist who has studied and interpreted the geology of the Sierra Nevada for over 12 years. He has authored or co-authored over 50 papers and abstracts on Sierra Nevada geology, and is co-author of the book Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park.
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Mono Basin Mammals
August 17–19
John Harris
$150 per person / $135 for members
This class will introduce participants to the diversity of mammals found in Mono Basin from desert sand dunes to the forests and alpine meadows of the high Sierra. More mammals occur here than in many states, and we will try to see as many as we can by live-trapping and field observation. We'll look for tracks and other signs and learn to identify skulls found in the field, emphasizing identification and adaptations to Mono's varied environments. John Harris is Professor of Biology at Mills College whose interest in Mono's mammals began in 1975 while working as an undergraduate assistant in a study of chipmunks. He went on to study small mammals on Mono Lake's dunes as a graduate student and has worked on small mammals in the Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, and Mojave Desert of California.
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Miwok-Paiute Basketry
August 24–26
Lucy Parker & Julia Parker
$190 per person / $175 for members
$80 materials fee
primitive group campsite included (no pets, please)
limited to 12 participants
During this seminar, participants will prepare materials and create a Miwok-Paiute burden basket—used for gathering pinenuts, acorns, and berries. This seminar is designed for weavers of all levels. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to camp with the group, and evenings will be spent around the campfire with traditional songs and stories. Lucy Parker is a descendent of the Yosemite Miwok, Mono Lake Kutzadika'a, and Kayasha Pomo peoples. She learned traditional handiwork from her mother Julia, a master basket weaver. Julia Parker has dedicated her life to learning and teaching basketry and is the only weaver still practicing who was taught by women who wove in the early 20th century.
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Living on the Edge:
Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep in the Mono Basin
September 8–9
John Wehausen
$165 per person / $150 for members
The US Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep as Federally Endangered in 2000. This field seminar will involve discussions of the fascinating biology of bighorn sheep, their relationship with other mammals (including mountain lions and humans), and their conservation in the field. Past participants saw bighorn 13 out of the last 14 years—while there is a very good chance of seeing bighorn sheep in the wild during this seminar, there is no guarantee. John Wehausen is a research scientist at the White Mountain Research Station in Bishop who has been studying the Sierra Nevada bighorn and working for their conservation since 1974. Please be aware that this seminar involves very strenuous hiking at the 10,000-foot elevation and above.
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Birding the Migration: Mono Basin & Bridgeport Valley
September 15–16
Dave Shuford
$150 per person / $135 for members
The east slope of the Sierra Nevada is a major migration route for birds traveling from northern nesting areas to warm southern habitats. As a result, autumn is the time of year to see late fall migrants and early arriving wintering birds in the Mono Basin and Bridgeport Valley. This seminar will include a guided boat tour on Bridgeport Reservoir! Dave Shuford has been a staff biologist at PRBO Conservation Science for over 30 years. He has conducted numerous surveys and research projects in the Mono Basin and beyond and is well acquainted with where to find birds in the Eastern Sierra.
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Mono Basin & Bodie Fall Photography
September 28–30
Richard Knepp
$300 per person / $285 for members
Autumn in the Mono Basin is one of the greatest photographic experiences in the country. Spectacular foliage and skies combine with exceptional light, presenting ample subject matter for photographers in both color and black-and-white. And, for the seventh year, the class will spend Saturday at Bodie, arriving at the park to photograph the dawn light! Join accomplished photographer Richard Knepp to explore varied shoreline locations at sunrise and sunset, fall color in nearby canyons, and the ghost town of Bodie. Photographers of all levels are welcome; a fully adjustable camera of any size or format is suggested. This is the 18th year in a row of this popular seminar.
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Photography at Burger's Sierra Retreat
October 5–7
Elizabeth Kenneday-Corathers
$300 per person / $285 for members
accomodations & meals included
This field seminar will explore photography of the beautiful aspen groves and alpine landscapes above Mono Lake. Practical topics include landscape representation, macrophotography of wildflowers and other flora, painting with light, night photography, and time studies, as well as philosophical and ethical issues in photographing the natural environment. Accommodations will be provided at the rustic and comfortable Burger's Sierra Retreat above Lee Vining, with all meals catered by Linda Dore Food Service. Photographers of all skill levels using either film or digital cameras are welcome. Elizabeth Kenneday-Corathers is an accomplished local photographer who is currently working on a photography book of the Mono Basin.
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Arborglyphs & Aspen Natural History
October 13–14
Richard Potashin & Nancy Hadlock
$160 per person / $145 for members
A century of sheep grazing brought Basque sheepherders into the Mono Basin's aspen-bordered meadows, and they left numerous carvings—or arborglyphs—on the aspens. Join the instructors for an enchanting journey into the aspen groves to explore this historic art form and to learn about the numerous wildlife, insects, and birds that are drawn to the groves. During leisurely walks the instructors will discuss the history of sheep grazing in the Mono Basin, Basque culture, the cultural significance of the carvings, and efforts to document them. Richard Potashin is a longtime Eastern Sierra resident who has been discovering and documenting aspen carvings for many years. Nancy Hadlock has been a naturalist, interpreter and educator for the National Park Service and US Forest Service for over 30 years.
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