A group of several birders stand in the shrubbery along mono shore. Some look through binoculars towards the water.

2025 Field Seminar registration opens February 7

The complete list of all the Mono Lake Committee’s 2025 Field Seminars is now available online. Registration opens at 9:00am on Friday, February 7 for Mono Lake Committee members.

This year’s slate of 14 Field Seminars includes one-day and multi-day options and spans many topics: foraging, butterflies, wildflowers, geology, birds, art, water policy, and more!

The Committee is excited that, this Field Seminar season, we will be offering photography seminars during all four seasons to capture Mono Lake’s dramatic and beautiful changes. First-time instructor Sarah Attar will lead Documenting the Range of Light in early May; veteran instructors Jeff Sullivan and Lori Hibbett will lead Mono Basin Landscape & Dark Sky Night Photography in August; naturalist-turned-photographer Robb Hirsch will return in October for Mono Basin Fall Photography; and Winter Photography will make a return in January 2026, led by popular instructor Joe Decker (registration for Winter Photography will occur in fall 2025).

Fans of Greg Stock’s Geology of the Mono Basin will have two chances to sign up this year, in August and September. Like last year, the Geology of the Mono Basin seminars will be filled through a lottery system—learn more about how the lottery works.

A group of people stand overlooking a rocky mountainside under a cloudless blue sky.
Geology of the Mono Basin seminar participants take in the fantastic geology of the Tioga Pass area. Photo by Nora Livingston.

The Committee is excited to introduce two brand-new seminars this year. Former Mono Lake Intern and Yosemite Wilderness Education Ranger AnnaLisa Mayer will lead a new program titled Brush & Bloom, in which participants will develop plant identification skills through artistic expression. Longtime Mono Basin educator Todd Wanner will lead a new program titled Ashes to Avalanches: The Mono Basin in Recovery. If you’ve wondered how the Mono Basin is bouncing back from the winter of 2022–2023 or how it has responded to forest fires over the past decade, Todd will guide you through the Mono Basin’s resilient ecosystem. 

The Committee is actively working to make our programs more accessible and inclusive. As part of this effort, former Committee Outdoor Education Instructor Bree Salazar will once again lead her Communing With(in) Nature seminar, which is specifically designed to create a space for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) participants and field instructors to connect with the Eastern Sierra. For members wishing to support these programs and the Committee’s initiatives to develop more accessible and inclusive environmental education spaces, there will be an option to donate during registration.

Finally, this year’s Los Angeles Aqueduct Tour will be one not to miss! Mono Lake Committee staff Robbie Di Paolo and Maureen McGlinchy, both Mono Basin watershed experts, will discuss the history of the aqueduct, the Mono Basin story, and how it will all play into the 2025 State Water Board hearing.

Seven people wearing hiking gear gather around a guide leaning on an unusual rock in a rocky and sunny outdoor setting.
Seminar participants learn about the natural history of the Mono Basin from instructor Nora Livingston (second from right). Photo courtesy of Bob Yates.

Take a look at the seminars now so you’ll know what to sign up for when registration opens on Friday, February 7, at 9:00am for Mono Lake Committee members. If you are not a Committee member but wish to register in February, you may join the Committee and sign up for the class of your choice at the same time on February 7. If you have any questions, check the list of frequently asked questions, email the Field Seminar team, or call (760) 647-6595.

Top photo by Elin Ljung.