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.

Will Mono Lake be closed?

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.
Dawn at the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, September 15, with State Parks trail construction equipment.
Dawn at the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, September 15, with State Parks trail construction equipment.

Day by day we await the list of state park closures developed in response to severe budget cuts and forecast to contain 100 parks. Will Mono Lake be on the list?

Yet the natural rhythms of Mono Lake continue. The sun rises, crisp fall weather returns, the phalaropes skim the lake’s surface, plentiful Eared Grebes dine on brine shrimp.

The State Park trail crew continues to make progress on the new public Mono Lake trail at Old Marina, a remarkable rehabilitation that is already popular with visitors. The trail and boardwalk are wheelchair accessible and will be among the longest such trails int he State Park system.

The rebuilt Gaines Boardwalk, part of the State Reserve, leads toward Mono Lake at sunrise. Photos by Geoff McQuilkin.
The rebuilt Gaines Boardwalk, part of the State Reserve, leads toward Mono Lake at sunrise. Photos by Geoff McQuilkin.

Mono Lake is more popular than ever with both birds and people. Twice the size of San Francisco, unmatched in the state in ecological productivity, a foundation of the tourism economy of Lee Vining, designated by the legislature 27 years ago as a unique site worthy of state park protection, doesn’t closing the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve seem just a tad shortsighted?