Working on this Mono Lake Newsletter, it struck me how many complex, technologically advanced systems are part of the articles that make up this issue. Air quality monitors, Motus stations, water treatment and recycling. Easements and grants for property transfer. Public meetings broadcast to millions and Zoom presentations between distant groups of students.
It also struck me that although these systems can be hard to understand or seem unnecessarily complex, they are tools in service of such simple, essential, and fundamental needs we have at Mono Lake.
The air quality and Motus technology lets us know in real time how pieces of the Mono Basin’s ecosystem are doing (pages 4 and 9). The complicated property transfer of Tupe Nobe allows the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe to begin returning home (page 10). Zoom connects kids in Lee Vining with kids at Laguna Mar Chiquita in Argentina for a better experience when they meet in person (page 8).
Mono Lake’s most essential need—a sustainable supply of water—is the same as Los Angeles’ essential need. The advanced water recycling technology at the Tillman Plant will help to meet it, in part thanks to the Mono Lake Committee’s persistence through a complex process to secure funding for the plant in the 1990s (page 6).
Another of Mono Lake’s fundamental needs? People who can speak up for it. We could watch in Lee Vining as Geoff did that at the LA City Council because that meeting was broadcast far and wide (page 5). And we have set up an online letter writing tool so you can ask the State Water Board to schedule their hearing about Mono Lake as soon as possible (page 3). No matter where you live, you can help serve one of Mono Lake’s essential needs when you use your voice for it.
Not everything is high-tech these days, though—you can once again get a good old fashioned “Save Mono Lake” bumper sticker sent to you through the mail from Lee Vining (page 3). I hope you’ll display it proudly.
Top photo and Newsletter cover photo courtesy of John Dittli.