A close up of yellow wildflowers overlooking the teal waters of Mono Lake on a cloudy day.

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Wild horses further impact South Tufa at Mono Lake

Last winter wild horses overwintered along the south shore of Mono Lake throughout South Tufa and Navy Beach. Record winter snow and poconip fog dramatically reduced public access and between 30 and 200 horses lingered in the area until spring.…

The future of Eared Grebes

Mono Lake may be the North American Eared Grebe’s best hope for the future Last fall marked the Mono Lake Committee’s 15th consecutive year working with Dr. Sean Boyd from Environment and Climate Change Canada to conduct aerial surveys of…

California Gulls: If not Mono Lake, where?

The California Gull (Larus californicus), the iconic gull species at Mono Lake and the state bird of Utah, is in trouble. These soaring and gregarious birds have nested in large numbers for millennia at Mono and Great Salt Lake, returning…

Phalarope mural to further connect saline lakes

The sight of phalaropes flocking at Mono Lake is truly something to behold. Inspired by both the phalaropes as well as the coordinated international efforts to protect their saline lake habitats in North and South America—we have hatched a plan…

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…