Summer 2023 Lakewatch & Streamwatch
Lakewatch: Record rise for Mono Lake expected A lot of snow was melting around Mono Lake in April, but Mono Lake rose less than a tenth of a foot that month, to 6380.07 feet above sea level on May 1.…
Tag: Mono Lake Newsletter
What does record runoff mean for Mono Basin stream restoration?
Exceptional runoff offers exceptional restoration opportunities The seasonal runoff (April through September) in the Mono Basin this year is forecasted to be 243% of the long-term (1971–2020) mean runoff, which will make it the single wettest seasonal runoff period in…
Restoration milestone for Mill Creek
Amended settlement returns streamflows to Mono Lake’s third-largest tributary The Mono Lake Committee is dedicated to protecting and restoring Mono Lake and its tributary streams, but while protection and restoration were afforded to four of Mono Lake’s major creeks (Rush,…
2023 Andrea Lawrence Award honors Dave Marquart
Community members and friends and family of Andrea Mead Lawrence gathered at Mammoth Mountain’s Parallax Restaurant in early May to present Dave Marquart, retired Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve ranger, with the 2023 Andrea Lawrence Award. Andrea was a…
Mono Lake’s exciting rise may well disappear
DWP stream diversions will undo this year’s lake level gains unless State Water Board acts The incredibly wet winter of 2023 has us anticipating an exciting 5½-foot rise in Mono Lake’s level by fall. That gain will boost the lake…
Winter & Spring 2023 Mono Lake Newsletter now online
I remember when April 1st was a normal, good-humored day at the office. We greeted each other with “happy April Fool’s Day” and pulled small pranks. One year Arya and I dangled a plastic toy dinosaur out the attic vent…
Following the phalaropes: Celebrating Argentina’s Ansenuza National Park at Laguna Mar Chiquita
Last fall, a flock of phalarope enthusiasts traveled 3,000 miles from Mono Lake to the Wilson’s Phalarope’s southernmost migration point—Laguna Mar Chiquita. That’s how six Mono Lake Committee staff, one Board member, and several long-time Mono Lake advocates from California…
Naturalist notes
This winter, poconip fog reigned in the Mono Basin. From the first snow in early November to the lengthening days of March, if we weren’t catching monster snowflakes on our tongues from snowstorm after snowstorm, we were enveloped in a…
Winter & Spring 2023 Streamwatch & Lakewatch
Streamwatch: Astonishing snowpack numbers portend record runoff A dry 2022 ended abruptly in November with a foot of snow. Despite the continuous precipitation all winter, consistently cold weather kept winter streamflows low. But with record snowpack, 2023 will bring record…
Gull protection fence to go up in 2023
Low lake means California Gulls will need protection from coyotes next spring 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 is…