Aerial view of the shoreline of the California Gull nesting colony rocky shore where it meets a green Mono Lake, with gulls seen on the shore and flying.

Fall 2020 Mono Lake Newsletter now online

What a different world this is than when I last wrote this note in the Mono Lake Newsletter. Just as the Winter & Spring 2020 issue was mailed, we headed home and hunkered down.

Cover of the Mono Lake Newsletter with an aerial view of the rocky shoreline of one of the gull colony islands in Mono Lake with gulls walking and also flying above the green water.

We saw the year emptied of joyous Mono Lake gatherings—the Bird Chautauqua, Field Seminars, canoe tours, more. But just as quickly, we filled it back up with new and long-deferred projects like virtual tours, renovating the website, and increasing our efforts to be more a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just organization.

We miss the camaraderie and easy exchange of ideas of the office and the busy hum of members in the bookstore. But we have found new flexibility—adapting to working from home, providing services safely, carrying on with remote schooling happening just feet away—whatever we need to do to keep working on behalf of Mono Lake.

I keep seeing the dualities of this situation like a coin flipping back and forth.

Mono Lake’s story, too, is full of these dualities—the two sides of a coin.

The Los Angeles Aqueduct was built with the singular purpose: to take water away from the Mono Basin. But when the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power fulfills the commitments made in signing the 2013 Stream Restoration Agreement, the aqueduct can be a part of actively helping restore the Mono Basin as well.

Those who drink water from the Mono Basin at their homes in Los Angeles receive that water from the system that damaged Mono Lake. But they are also some of the lake’s biggest champions, fiercest supporters, conscientious voters, and most steadfast Committee members.

During such a hard time, I hope we all can keep flipping the coin, finding the bright moments that will get us through. I hope reading this Newsletter is as bright a moment for you as it has been for us to put together. Thank you for your support, always, and especially right now.

Top photo courtesy of Point Blue Conservation Science.