Number 8 of the top 11 of 2011 is actually recognition of three major celebrations—the Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner, the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, and the Defender of the Trust Award ceremony. Yee-haw!
In April we held the first annual Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner at Parallax Restaurant in McCoy Station on Mammoth Mountain with keynote speaker Ron Nichols, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. At the sold-out event we carried on the tradition started by Andrea Lawrence herself of presenting the Andrea Lawrence Award to the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, whose work to initiate the Owens Lake Master Plan process reflects the spirit of collaboration for which Andrea was a tireless advocate.
In June the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua soared into its 10th anniversary gracefully. It was a beautiful weekend of great presentations, field trips, music, science, and, of course, birds! We could not accomplish the event’s mission to enhance appreciate and understanding of the Mono Basin’s diverse and abundant bird life and to educate the public about the area’s value to birds and people without our organizing partner, California State Parks, and the event partners: Eastern Sierra Audubon, PRBO Conservation Science, Friends of the Inyo, the National Forest Service, Yosemite Conservancy, Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, and the Inyo National Forest Mono Basin Scenic Area.
The Committee’s Defender of the Trust Award was given to Mary Scoonover for her extraordinary work defending the public trust and protecting the public’s natural heritage at Mono Lake and its tributary streams.
