Green grass with fluffy seed heads lines the shore of a lake, tufa formations are in the water offshore.

Tag: Newsletter

Summer 2024 Mono Lake Newsletter now online

If you visit Mono Lake this summer I know you’ll be captivated by its beauty—a huge blue lake in the desert, with tufa towers like castles along the shore and tall snowcapped mountains rising to the west. If you picked…

Will LA take more Mono Lake water?

Mono Lake Committee and diverse LA coalition call on Mayor Bass to not increase water exports this year Last year was notably wet, raising Mono Lake five feet—and creating a conundrum. Under rules written three decades ago, the lake’s rise…

Mono Basin ASO flights get off the ground

In the spring, the Mono Lake Committee helped Mono County secure emergency funding from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services for Airborne Snow Observatories (ASO) LiDAR flights that gave us a crucial understanding of the record snowpack. ASO-derived data and…

Tracking phalaropes at Mono and beyond

Editor’s note: This article was compiled from field reports from Ryan Carle and Kiki Tarr. Phalarope research continued at Mono Lake again this summer, with phalarope surveys taking place for the fifth consecutive year, plus a new effort to tag…

An exceptional year for Mono Basin stream restoration

The Mono Basin has had a very wet runoff year (more than 200% of average), but from a stream restoration perspective, what matters is how quickly the runoff melts, because the resulting flows dictate what kind of ecosystem processes occur.…

A rising Mono Lake averted coyote threat to nesting gulls

As Mono Lake rose this year it submerged large sections of the exposed landbridge between Negit Island and Black Point, providing a better buffer between coyotes and thousands of nesting California Gulls. The winter brought so much precipitation, runoff ,…

Clearing up the “green lake” phenomenon

This summer, the water in Mono Lake appeared noticeably clearer than it has during most summers over the last decade. Historically, the clarity of Mono Lake’s water fluctuates seasonally, appearing green and opaque in the winter as algae grows and…

LA leadership recognizes low lake concerns

Technical discussions will explore diversion scenarios Mono Lake has been the topic of important discussions in Los Angeles in recent months, focusing on the challenge of ensuring the lake rises to the 6392-foot Public Trust lake level. This level was…