Earlier this month, the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribal Council established one official spelling for the Tribe’s name: Kootzaduka’a. This spelling better represents the word’s pronunciation in the Kootzaduka’a language. The phonetic spelling is more accurate to the sounds in the…
Every summer, the Mono Lake Committee hires interns who work in interpretation, education, science, information, and more, while living in Lee Vining for the months they work here. Many permanent staff at the Committee today will tell you how they…
Last month, Mono County high school seniors celebrated graduation throughout the Eastern Sierra. The Mono Lake Committee awarded $1,000 scholarships to two very deserving seniors: Kaelyn Lange from Coleville High School and Alden Seiberling from Lee Vining High School. Along…
It’s an old story. A State Fisheries biologist is assigned to a remote area and begins patrolling and documenting the abundant fisheries there. He becomes concerned when upstream water diversions start to degrade the riparian ecosystems that he was assigned…
Water is flowing down the Kern River in Bakersfield for the first time in many years, thanks to the combination of abundant snowmelt and an injunction preventing water diversions from drying up the river. Record runoff from last winter’s historic…
In a recent ruling, Sullivan v. Lincoln County, the Nevada Supreme Court changed the way water will be managed throughout the state. Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin Director of the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote about the decision: Pre-Sullivan, nearly every…
This essay, written by Stephen Trimble, appears in the 2024 Mono Lake Calendar. The great Western writer Wallace Stegner knew that “the Great Basin is a unifying force; wherever you live in it, you flow toward every other part.” And as…
The Walker Basin Conservancy, a pioneer in the use of market-based environmental solutions, recently announced another successful water and land acquisition in Smith Valley, Nevada. This deal included 320 acres of Walker River corridor, 3.6 cubic feet per second of…
Phillip L. Isenberg, an inventive and unconventional Sacramento political leader, and champion of Mono Lake has died. Around Sacramento, and much of the state, he was known for his impressive legacy of public service—as City Council Member, Assemblyman, Sacramento Mayor, and…
Record Sierra runoff (and the Public Trust Doctrine) flow into Walker Lake In the last days of 1994, celebrations of State Water Board Decision 1631 by Mono Lake Committee staff had barely ended when it began to snow, and snow,…
