Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Mono Lake Top Ten from 2008 … #10

It’s nearing the end of 2008–time to take stock of things and to take a look back at the year behind in order to prepare for the year ahead. It’s also the time of year when radio and TV shows do countdowns and “top ten” lists. We’ve gathered our own top ten list of great things that have happened for Mono Lake in 2008 to share with you, one per day, leading up to the New Year.

So, without further ado, the Mono Lake Top Ten from 2008:

Number 10. The Mono Lake Committee turns 30
Committee Executive Director Geoff McQuilkin wrote in the Summer 2008 Newsletter, “The Mono Lake Committee began with a passion for Mono Lake, a vision for the lake’s protection, and the names of a few concerned individuals stored on index cards in a recipe box. Our efforts, now 30 successful years long and 16,000 grassroots members strong, are inspired by our love for this wild and natural place-a place where a remarkable salt lake lies at the center of a landscape and ecosystem unmatched anywhere else on earth.”

There is a long list of victories and protections hard fought and won day by day and year after year by the dedicated group of individuals that is the Mono Lake Committee. You can see and feel it when you look across the landscape’s wide open spaces, the riparian areas coming back to life, and Mono Lake on the rise. For this, we’re putting the Mono Lake Committee’s 30th Anniversary as number ten on the Mono Lake Top Ten from 2008.