On Sunday, November 17, Eastern Sierra students participating in the Experience Ambientalia program got out and about for World Fisheries Day. In partnership with the Mono Lake Committee, local high school teachers, Beaver Sporting Goods, and our colleagues at Laguna Mar Chiquita in northern Argentina, these students took a tour of the Mono Basin extension of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and learned about the importance of fish in our community.
Students learned how water from the Mono Basin since 1941 is diverted and sent more than 330 miles south to Los Angeles and how the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power must manage the water to balance ecological needs in the Mono Basin instead of exclusively delivering water to the city. A key focus of the tour was how the presence of fish below Mono Basin dams in the 1980s helped catalyze efforts to save and restore Mono Lake and its tributary streams.
Wayne Beaver, owner of Beaver Sporting Goods, joined the group to share the history of fishing in the Mono Basin. He discussed the fish-stocking process in local streams and highlighted the economic significance of fishing in supporting communities across Mono County. The day concluded at the Lee Vining Creek diversion pond, where participants cleaned up the streambanks, removing trash and old fishing line to improve the habitat.
Students from both hemispheres are now conducting concurrent environmental stewardship and educational activities at their respective lakes. To celebrate World Fisheries Day, students in Argentina visited the tributary rivers feeding Laguna Mar Chiquita, cleared invasive vegetation from streambanks, and learned about native fish species in their region.
In December, students will connect virtually with their counterparts across the hemisphere before the program takes a brief hiatus in spring. Our goal is that students from Mono Lake will travel across the hemisphere next (boreal) summer to visit Laguna Mar Chiquita to connect with the roots of the program during their (austral) winter.
About the Experience Ambientalia program
Experience Ambientalia is a community group that seeks to better connect youth to their home ecosystems and cultivate a sense of environmental stewardship. The Mono Lake chapter of Experience Ambientalia parallels a much larger program and contingent of students in Argentina, where Experiencia Ambientalia was founded in 2021 to engage youth in conserving Laguna Mar Chiquita. Mono Lake is a sister lake with Laguna Mar Chiquita within the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network because of their combined role in providing critical habitat for Wilson’s Phalaropes.
We are seeking support to cover essential expenses and educational materials to provide these life-changing opportunities to students. If you are interested in supporting the Experience Ambientalia program, you can do that here:
Top photo by Ryan Garrett.