This issue of the Mono Lake Newsletter contains a hard question: Will I see Mono Lake rise to the healthy, mandated level in my lifetime? We’ve been hearing that question, and others, from members. As Geoff writes in his article…
Scientists across disciplines flock to the Mono Basin Mono Lake is a place where fascinating geology gives rise to vital ecosystems, and the support offered to researchers through our Mono Basin Field Station means that the Mono Lake Committee has…
One year ago, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued Order 21-86, mandating enhanced requirements for the restoration of 20 miles of stream habitat in the Mono Basin (see Fall 2021 Mono Lake Newsletter). The order launched a new…
The Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center (OEC) is the hub of our program that links folks from Los Angeles to the source of their water here in the Mono Basin. During week-long trips participants walk along the shore of Mono…
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…
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…
It felt like a grim spring here at Mono Lake. It was too dry. No snow to speak of in January, February, or March. Meager storms in April that barely dampened ground that had been drying out for months. It…
During the 2021 runoff year (April 1, 2021–March 31, 2022), the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) was allowed to export up to 16,000 acre-feet of stream diversions from the Mono Basin because Mono Lake was above 6380…
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…
The Mono Lake Kutzadika’a Tribe is currently working on a number of projects aimed at reviving the uses of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of the Indigenous peoples of the Mono Basin. These efforts confront the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from…
