Category: Protection

Thank you, Yvon, for Patagonia’s next big step

As an unassuming email landed in our inboxes from clothing company Patagonia about the company’s next step to “save our home planet,” phones buzzed with the news alert, office-mates shared the link, and the outlook for planet Earth made a…

Mono Lake returns to NPR’s Blue Dot podcast

You might remember hearing the Mono Lake story on NPR’s Blue Dot Podcast in May of 2021. Host Dave Schlom chatted with Nora Livingston, our Lead Naturalist Guide, about the geology, ecosystems, and organisms of Mono Lake, and later with…

California Gulls nest safely this year

As California weathers another drought and Mono Lake’s level continues to drop, the landbridge from the mainland to one of the world’s largest California Gull nesting colonies continues to re-emerge—and with it—concern for the gull population put at risk of…

San Francisco Chronicle covers Mono Lake’s low level

Readers in the San Francisco Bay Area opened the San Francisco Chronicle this morning to see a feature article about Mono Lake and the challenges the present-day, persistent low lake level presents for humans, birds, and the environment alike, challenges…

Wild horse activity at South Tufa

Last winter, wild horse activity sharply increased at and around South Tufa, with upward of 100 horses regularly seen on the trail to Mono Lake, near Navy Beach, and at the freshwater spring along the shoreline. Wild horses used to…

Drought worsens at Mono Lake

Drought forces reduced diversions, causes problems for nesting birds and air quality Mono Lake is suffering from a severe drought. The lake has dropped more than three feet in elevation since 2019, exposing more lakebed. Dust storms have become more…

Raising Mono Lake requires a new plan

Stream diversions holding back lake rise On the wall of the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore is a vertical blue tube representing Mono Lake’s level, with a yellow sliding arrow pointing to the present-day surface elevation. It is…

Protecting California Gulls at Mono Lake’s low levels

Each autumn Mono Lake Committee staff optimistically hope for a wet and snowy winter, but cautiously prepare for drought. Last fall, drought contingency planning included the possibility of re-deploying the mile-long temporary electrified fence to protect California Gulls; no small…