Community members, friends, and family of Andrea Mead Lawrence gathered at Mammoth Mountain’s Parallax Restaurant on May 3 to present Los Angeles community leader Elsa Lopez with the 2019 Andrea Lawrence Award.

Current and former Mono Lake Committee staff with Quentin Lawrence and 2019 award recipient Elsa Lopez (second and third from left). Photo by Andrew Youssef.

Elsa is a pioneering educator and activist committed to strengthening the link between Los Angeles and Mono Lake. Beginning in the 1980s, Elsa engaged her organization, Mothers of East Los Angeles–Santa Isabel, in the successful implementation of LA’s ultra-low-flush toilet retrofit program, creating effective water conservation solutions in her community. (more…)

The countdown for the Mono Lake Committee’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Pasadena and Santa Monica is underway! If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, there is still a chance to save 20% on tickets using the promo code MONOLAKE through tomorrow, February 28th.

Vala teaching her daughter Mathilda the art of casting as they fly fish together in Reykjavík, in My Mom Vala. Photo courtesy of South Yuba River Citizens League.

In just a few days Committee staff will be braving the LA freeways to make it to our members, prospective members, and movie-goers in Santa Monica and Pasadena. If you’ve already bought your tickets—great! Get ready to take in the 13 inspiring and (more…)

The Mono Lake Committee is excited to announce our eighth annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles! We will be featuring a series of short, inspiring, and engaging films that showcase amazing people, beautiful places, and unique perspectives.

There will be two opportunities to catch our films: (more…)

We are excited to announce the Mono Lake Committee’s seventh annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles. This year we will be showing films in Santa Monica on Thursday, March 8 and Sierra Madre on Saturday, March 10.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival features a selection of inspiring films about environmental conservation, outdoor adventure, and natural wonders and serves as a great way to meet with Mono Lake Committee staff and members at the southern end of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. All proceeds from the event go toward the Committee’s Outdoor Education Center programs, which bring youth from Los Angeles to the Mono Basin for a week of outdoor experiences and learning about the source of their water.

Stay tuned for film program updates and information about ticket sales. We hope to see you there!

Tickets for the annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles are on sale now! We are excited to have screenings at two locations this year; the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo on Thursday March 9 from 7:00-10:00pm and the Sierra Madre City Hall Council Chambers on Saturday, March 11 from 2-3pm for a matinee and from 7:00-10:00pm as well.

This year’s festival features ten beautiful and fun films about nature, conservation, and activism through the lens of skiing, surfing, mountaineering, photography, whitewater rafting, and more.

Tickets can be purchased here or by calling us at (760) 647-6595. For more information, including film lineups and parking information, check out the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Los Angeles website. You can also follow the festival on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news.

All proceeds from the event go to the Mono Lake Committee’s Outdoor Education Center programs that bring students from Los Angeles to the Mono Basin to learn about the source of their water through five days of life changing outdoor experiences.

See you there!

We love talking to folks about Mono Lake, especially people who are interested in looking at the Mono Lake story within the larger context of saline lakes. Such was the case when Mono Lake Committee Executive Director Geoffrey McQuilkin joined E&E Greenwire reporter Jeremy Jacobs for a lakeshore exploration this past April.

Jacobs is writing a series on “Dead Seas” that is worth reading to learn more about the Salton Sea and Owens Lake. For sure, you won’t want to miss the newest installment that focuses on Mono Lake. You can read the full story “Drought Threatens ‘genius’ regs that stopped L.A. water grab” here.

Click the image above to read the whole article from E&E Publishing, LLC’s Greenwire.

Enjoy! And let us know if you have any questions.

The Thousand Year Journey is showing in the 2016 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of @jedidiahjenkins.

“The routine is the enemy of time; it makes it fly by.”
—Jedidiah Jenkins, The Thousand Year Journey

Step out of the routine and join us for the 2016 Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles March 10 & 12. You will be transported around the world and everywhere you look will bring a new and different perspective. We will take you skiing, skateboarding, biking, kayaking, surfing, slacklining, and freerunning, to wild places that otherwise go undiscovered. Each film is (more…)

This year marks the Committee’s fifth year hosting a Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

Tickets to the Mono Lake Committee’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles are now available! Simply visit the Mono Lake Committee online store to purchase yours today. We are thrilled to be continuing our event at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo on Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, which will kick off with a Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ performance (not to be missed). We are also expanding the festival to the Sierra Madre City Hall Council Chambers on Saturday, March 12, for a special children’s program at 2:00pm and our full lineup at 7:00pm.

This year’s festival features 14 short films on everything from skiing to cycling, bighorn sheep to dogs, and slacklining to skateboarding, all through beautiful, poignant, and fun (more…)

Tickets are selling like hotcakes for tonight’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Los Angeles. Can you join us? We hope so!

• What: Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Los Angeles—six new outdoor and adventure films plus a live Mighty Wurlitzer show.
• Where: Old Town Music Hall, El Segundo, 140 Richardson Street, El Segundo. Free parking in the big lot next to the theater.
• When: Tonight, Thursday, March 5, 7–10pm, one night only.
• How much: $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $10 for students.
• Why: films, friends, fun!

Keeping the people of Los Angeles connected to Mono Lake is critical to a healthy future for the Mono Basin. By hosting the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles we hope to inspire increased awareness about Mono Lake in the people directly connected to the lake via your drinking water. The event is a membership drive for the Mono Lake Committee and a fundraiser for the Committee’s Outdoor Education Center programs that bring underserved youth to Mono Lake for life-changing outdoor experiences and watershed education. Thank you!

Special thanks to our local sponsors: Chevron, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, and Environment Now. And to the national festival sponsors: Clif Bar, Patagonia, Klean Kanteen, EarthJustice, Orion Magazine, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly.

Can’t come? Consider following us on Facebook and Twitter so you’ll know for next year.

This post was written by Erica Stephens, 2014 Mono Lake Intern.

Making the long journey up Highway 395 north to the Mono Basin and Eastern Sierra was always the highlight of my summers growing up. Originally from Southern California, I am used to palm trees, sirens whizzing by, crowds, malls, and a Starbucks on every corner. Everyone always seems to be on the move and everywhere you go, places are bustling with business. I come from this sort of lifestyle and consider myself to be a true California beach bum from the Long Beach area.

Erica leading a program for visitors along the Fossil Discovery Trail in Dinosaur National Monument in 2010. Photo courtesy of Erica Stephens.

Yet the city life was not all I was accustomed to since I was fortunate enough to have had an amazing outdoor education experience at Camp Hi-Hill during the fifth grade. (more…)