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THEMONO LAKECOMMITTEE OF THE SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY POST OFFICE BOX 2764, OAKLAND, CA 94602

Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 2 Edited by: David Gaines Summsr, 1978

THE WNO LAKE , Artemia monoensis?

The lake which Mark Twain called pulse. Is its surface peppered the "dead sea of " is, in with millions of birds? Can you reality, teeming with life. Small, hear the cries of gulls and shore- delicate crustaceans, called brine birds? What will you see and shrimp, thrive in its waters, and hear in years to come? few places host greater numbers of birds. The "dead sea" is dying, its lifeblood shuttled to the south. Mono, in fact, is one of the To save the lake more water must planet's most life-productive bodies be released down Rush and Lee of water. Its phytoplankton- micro- Vining Creeks. Otherwise, within scopic, photosynthesizing - our lifetimes, Mono will become a capture and store prodigious silent, birdless chemical sump. quantities of solar energy. The phytoplankton are "grazed" by This issue features an article seemingly infinite herds of on the brine shrimp, those feathery brine shrimp and flies. These, and, as we shall see, mysterious in turn, nourish immense flocks crustaceans on which millions of of birds. birds depend for sustenance. Is ( the Mono Shrimp endangered? See The next time you pass by page 4. Mono, check the lake's living MONO LAKE URIATE : WET WINTER NO FUIPRIEVE

The MONO LAKE COMMITTEE is a This summer, for the first time nonprofit citizen's group in almost a decade, snowmelt found \ dedicated 'to the perservation its way past the Rush and Lee Vining of the scenic and wildlife Creek diversions into Mono Lake. values of Mono Lake, California. But the sight of water flowing down Sponsored. by the Santa Monica Bay these creeks, however heartening, Audubon Society. was little cause for comfort. Despite the wettest winter in Chairperson: David Gaines years, Mono continued to shrink. Vice-chairperson: David Winkler During the four months since April, ~ecretar~/~reasurerrSally Judy a period of high runoff, we watched Correspondent Secretary: Mark Ross the lake recede. On the shallow Phone: 213/838-4909 east side up to 30 yards of shore- line was exposed. The lake has not Sacramento Phone: 916/48l-6174 been lower for thousands of years. (7-9 pm only) +**************** Why has Mono continued to ebb in a year when California almost washed The newsletter features updates into the sea? During the past on the latest developments affecting winter snow piled high in Mono Mono's future as well as articles Lake's watershed, as it did through- on the natural, geological and out the Slerra . But instead human history of Mono and other of feeding the lake, most of the lakes, reviews of above average snowmelt was shunted current research and recent south into the . publications, plant and animal Why was all this water needed in checklists, and announcements of a year when runoff throughout the l Field trips and talks. We invite I aqueduct's eastern Sierran watershed your comments and contributions! was about 150 percent of normal? The newsletter is published at Why was no more released into Mono cost four times a year by Lake? Zalifornia Syllabus, 1494 Mac- In the weeks ahead, we hope to Arthur, Oakland, CA 94602. ferret out answers to these questions. IMPORTANT! If your copy is In our fall issue, after the "evapo- improperly addressed, if you ration year" has ended, we will fail to receive an issue, or bring you up to date on how Mono ifyou are moving, please let Lake has fared, and feature an us know: Address all corres- article on where its water goes pondence tor PO Box 2764, and how it is used. Oakland, CA 94602.

GULLS NEST SUCCESSF[TLLY ON NEGIT ISLAND

David Winkler, Chris Swarth and Steven Gelman spent July 10th visiting Mono's colonies. They mapped the distri- bution of the colonies and conducted censuses in representative areas. Their data indicates that no decline has taken place in the two years since censuses were last conducted. The breeding cycle was advanced- approximately ninety percent of WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE DOING {the 30 to 40 thousand gull chicks were within one to two weeks of The Mono Lake Committee was officially fledging. formed in March, 1978 by David Winkler, David Gaines, Sally Judy and Mark Ross. The channel blasted between But its birth really dates back to Negit Island and the mainland by summer, 1976 when Winkler and Gaines the California Department of Fish helped a group of researchers from and Game, the Bureau of Land and the University Management and the California of California at Davis pursue a National Guard thus succeeded in broad-spectrum study of the lake's protecting the Negit Island gull ecology. We fell under the spell of colony this year. Only one set Mono's vast vistas, lunar landscapes, of canid (?) tracks and rainbow sunsets and great flocks of one scat with gull feathers were birds. By the end of 1977, however, discovered on the island. We the toll of unrestricted water of the Mono Lake Committee thank diversions was terribly evident. the agencies for their concern Bathtub rings of ugly white and cooperat ion. marked the forty plus feet the lake Will the gulls fare as well had dropped since diversions began in next year? We will be working 1940. A landbridge connected Negit with the agencies and National Island to the main1 end, jeopardizing Audubon to bring back the Guard the sanctuary of 90 percent of Californ- this fall to deepen the channel ia's nesting California Gulls. and complete the fine job they Unless we rallied in defense, Mono's initiated in the spring. scenery and wildlife would soon be irretrievably destroyed. We had to begin at once. Fortu- nately we found sympathetic ears among members of the Santa Monica Audubon Society, a group well-known for their efforts on behalf of California's deserts. They have taken our nestling group under their wing, so to speak, for its first year. This has enabled us to solicit dona- tions as a nonprofit, tax-deductable organization.

To date most of our activities have focused on publicizing Mono Lake and its plight. This summer we have been lead- ing field trips to the lake and present- ing slide-illustrated talks in Mono County and . As the lake wins new friends we have been building a grass-roots network to spread the word state and nation-wide.

(continued page 10)

On March 17-18, 1978, the California ( Vational Guard blasted a channel through the Negit Island landbridge. It was this blast which ensured a successful nesting this season. -3- MONO 'S MYSTERIOUS BRINE SHRIMP Mono 's importance to birds An Endangered Species? derives in large measure from by David Gaines this cornucopia of brine shrimp. Since there are no fish, the During the summer months Mono's shrimp's only ppedators are the waters are the haunts of a small lake's immense nesting and transient animal that Mark Twain characterized water bird populations. With so as "a white feathery sort of worm, many shrimp, there is plenty of one half an inch long, which looks food for all. like a bit of thread frayed out at During the fall and winter, the the sides ." This coarse description, lake undergoes a metamorphosis. the first published reference to Of the quadrillions of shrimp Mono's brine shrimp, does scant that thrived beneath the summer justice to these delicate crustaceans. sun, scarcely an adult remains. The shrimp, in fact, are hardly In their absence the algae bloom frayed or wormlike in appearance. and multiply until their sheer Their translucent bodies are numbers opaque the surface water. colorful, ranging in hue from red While icy winter winds whip and ochre to green and turquoise. across the lake, these micro- At the anterior end of the trunk scopic plants continue to grow two black eyes dot the sides of and multiply, storing solar their crescent-shaped heads. The energy in complex organic shrimp's elongate, tapering trunks molecules. The shrimp, mean- are fringed with eleven pairs of while, survive as cysts on the plumose appendages, called bottom of the lake. In April and phyllopodia, which continually skull May they hatch, swarm to the the water. This graceful, sym- surface and seemingly graze away metrical motion propels the shrimp most of the past winter's algal while they gather food. As they bloom. swim water is forced towards their trunks through a fringe of As yet nobody understands why filter hairs (setae) situated Mono's shrimp crash in the fall, on the phyllopodia. Algae and why. their eggs sink or, in sum, bacteria are filtered out of the very much at all about their water, passed to the food groove ecology. Working to dispel on the ventral midline of the this ignorance is Petra Lenz, a trunk and then swept forward to graduate student under the tate- . the mouth. lage of Dr. John Melack, limno- logist at the University of From June through September the California, Santa Barbara. For water of Mono Lake suggests an almost a year Lenz has been sampling organic alphabet soup filled with off Mono's south shore, recording innumerable feathery hieroglyphs. data on brine shrimp density, water The numbers of shriplp are astro- , temperature, turbidity, dissolved nomical. David Mason, who wrote oxygen and other parameters. his Ph.D. thesis on the lake, During the winter she treks to estimated that ,maximum populations the lake on cross-country..-skis! - . exceed 1000 individuals per square foot-- and this may be conserva- Her regimented and rather tedious tive. The 250 tons harvested in sampling will generate our first * three months each year by a commer- clear picture of the Mono shrimp's cial fish food company-- about 22 demography, that is, its distri- billion individuals-- is an infi- bution in the lake's waters, its . nitesimally small fraction of the growth rate and its vital statistics, total population. With this baseline data limnolo- gists can begin to explore the relationships between shrimp, . phytoplankton, nutrients, water populations they are sexual, the chemistry, lake currents, springs females possessing two egg sacs and other aspects of the Mono Lake and the males two prehensile , copulatory appendages that hang like long pendant moustaches from There is no lack of brine shrimp their anterior end. After every mysteries to baffle and intrigue molt (each four to six days) the Lenz and other researchers for females apparently &te and generations to come. This summer release nauplii or fertilized I visited Petra at the University eggs into the lake. This cycle of California's Aquatic continues throughout the summer. Research Laboratory near mmmoth Then, in the fall, they spawn Lakes, her of operations. She the overwintering cysts. Then outlined some of the puzzles: all the adults die and disappear. (1) Why are the shrimp so unevenly What stimulates the shrimp to distributed? In many of the shallower stop producing nauplii and fertilized parts of the lake there are dense eggs and start producing cysts? plumes of hundreds of thousands if What awakens the cysts after eight not millions surrounded by seemingly months of sleep on Mono's bottom? identical areas with very low densities. Do these plumes relate Equally intriguing is the to food? ? Temperature? relationship of Mono's brine Mating? shrimp to populations dwelling (2) Are the shrimp able to propel in other salty or alkaline waters themselves from less to more favor- around the world. Although able parts of the lake? Or are all these populations are lumped - they fated to drift wherever the into a single species, Artemia "currents take them? salina, there is overwhelming evidence for the Mono shrimp's

genetic uniqueness. One striking Why are the shrimp so (3) difference is the density of their variable in color? The red pig- ments, which are thought to eggs. In contrast to brine shrimp indicate an increase in hemoglobin elsewhere, those at Mono produce eggs that sink rather than float. or other oxygen-carrying compounds, Furthermore the Mono shrimp die might indicate depleted oxygen in anything but Mono Lake water. levels in the lake water. But Conversely shrimp from San Fran- why do different colored shrimp cisco Bay, Great and dwell side by side? other localities cannot survive (4) What environmental or in Mono brine (Bowen 1964). This internal cues control the repro- indicates that the Mono shrimp are ductive cycle? The Mono shrimp reproductively isolated by habitat overwinter as cysts, hatch out as and, by definition, deserve to be miniatures called nauplii and recognized as a distinct biological reach the adult stage after 14 species. Scientists are cautious, successive molts. Unlike many -5- however, and brine shrimp taxonomy is being revised very slowly. has remarked that if water is to Clark and Bowen, in a 1976 paper, aerve "the greatest good for the ' i refrain from assigning "species greatest number," we must spare names to the Mono and Urmia enough for the Mono shrimp, for populations until we have charac- they outnumber us many times over. terized them more completely in In 1933 consideration of the regard to biochemical traits." But 'I greatest good" persuaded members no one questions that the Mono of Congress to cede shrimp, like the lake itself, is water rights to the City of Los unique and irreplaceable. Angeles. But did they ever consider the little shrimp The future of the shrimp, like and the unique living lake of that of all the lifeforms dependent which it is part? on the lake, will be bleak unless diversions are curtailed. Within the next 20 years increasing concen- Selected References trations of dissolved ions will Bowen, S. T. 1964. Biol. Bull. probably overtake the shrimp's 126: 333-344. ability to keep its internal salts below toxic levels. In the only Clark, L. 5. and S. T. Bowen. experiments conducted to date, 1976. Journ. Heredity 67: 585-388. Herbst and Dana (1976) exposed Herbst, D. B. and G. Dana. 1976. Mono shrimp to i ncreasing con- Ins Winkler, D. ed., Univ. Calif. centrations of lake brine. Davis Inst. Ecol. Publ. 128 63-69. Mortality rose dramatically at about twice present concentra- Mason, D. T. 1967. Univ. Calif. tions and approached 100 percent Pub1 Zool. 83: 1-110. soon thereafter. Brine shrimp in general are astonishingly capable of coping with salts. At and at salt ponds along San Francisco Bay, they survive in saturated solutions of sodium chloride (ordinary table salt ) . At Mono, however, the shrimp must overcome high concentrations, not only of chlorides, but of POEM and sulphates as well (see figure). written by a schoolchild at Bodie As salt-regulating mechanisms are sometime before 1943 ion-specific, it is exceedingly unlikely that brine shrinq, (or any other animal) will be able to Down the mountain came the white coal continue to cope with all these Into Mono Lake it flowed with glee substances if the lake shrinks Until it made a tiny sea much further. Then with their money all begiled The Mono shrimp is an endangered Came Los Angeles so wild population if not an endangered To buy the farmers of their land species. For thousands if not And to pay them with a stingy hand hundreds of thousands of years, The farmers made them pay a good fee it has dwelt in this inland sea And took Los Angeles money in glee at the eastern base of the Sierra But in a few hundred years to be / Nevada, evolving the miraculous There won't be any more sea physiological adaptations needed There will be a desert dry to thrive in a lake unlike any Like the drinkers were when the on earth. Enid Larson, biologist- 18 amendment went into style laureate of eastern California, -6- Fie to Los Angeles, fie. ONGOING RESEARCH From the beginning of April oc, i \ the "plover patrol," with the This summer biologists from the help of visiting ornithologists, , Oregon kept track of Mono's water bird State University and the Point populations. The importance of Reyes Bird Observatory probed the the lake to northward migrating mysteries of the Mono Lake ecosystem. shorebirds was documented for the Dr. John Melack, limologist first time. The California Gull rookeries were surveyed on July from the University of California 10th (see article). An "all-lake at Santa Barbara, initiated an census" on July 30th tallied normal ongoing study of the seasonal numbers of gulls and shorebirds, and spatial patterns of Mono's phytoplankton and began developing but Eared Grebes were unexpectedly methods for studying the lake's low. Five additional species were nutrient chemistry. He has promised added to the known avifauna: an article for a future newsletter. Cattle Egret, Black Brant, Mountain Petra Lenz, a graduate student Plover, Whimbrel and Dunlin. working with Melack, is pursuing a demographic study of the brine shrimp (see brine shrimp article). David Herbst, graduate student with Dr. Frank Conte, Oregon State University, is comparing the salt regulatory capabilities of Mono Lake brine fly larvae

\ () with those from Abert Lake- in Oregon.

Bird research focused on the habitat requirements and breeding success of the Snowy Plover. David Winkler and Gary Page of John Harris, graduate student the Point Reyes Bird Observatory with Dr. E. W. Jameson, University conducted the study with the of California at Davis, is studying the small mammhlls which dwell assistance of Steve Gellman, Susan Peaslee, Lynne Stenzel, around the perimeter of Mono Lake. Barbara and Chris Swarth, Ralph He is especially interested in the Dark Kangaroo Mouse (Microdipodops Widrig and other dedicated megacephalus), a diminutive rela- volunteers. A full report on tive of the kangaroo rats known the "plover patrol" and their in California only from Benton and findings will appear in our fall or winter issue. the vicinity of Mono Lake. Harris hopes to learn how these hardy little Winkler's effort to study the animals subsist among the salt grass migration of the Wilson's and greasewood. was thwarted by a shortage of available time and personnel and the birdfs uncanny ability to avoid being trapped. But he did succeed in recapturing a Northern that he had banded on Thanks to Erica Buhrrnann, Cameron almost the same date one year \ Barrows and Christine Weigen for before within 50 yards of the art work and graphics! exact spot! SHOREBIRDS ARRIVE AT MONO LAKE RECENT PUBLICATIONS by Chris Swarth Geological Guidebook to the Long from the Plover Patrol Journal, Valley Mono Craters Region of 10 July, 1978 - Eastern California, by Steven R. With the gull colony census com- Lipshie, Geological Society of pleted we paddled our canoe to U.C.L.A. Field Guide No. 5, 184 "~rakatoa," a smnll islet east of pp. This guidebook is a "must" Negit Island. It was late afternoon for anyone seriously interested and the lake was very calm, a con- in the geology of the Mono Basin dition unusual for that time of day. and the region to its south. It We beached the canoe and clambered is structured around a detailed up the black volcanic rocks. From series of guided geologic tours the top of this craggy lookout we along roads in the region. The could see the distant eastern shore. lucid, though necessarily some- And far in the distance a long thin what technical text will reward line of white appeared just above the diligent layman with a com- the placid blue water. Closer prehensive, in-depth appreciation inspection through binoculars for one of the most geologically revealed a single file flock of diverse and spectacular regions small white shorebirds. The Wilson's on earth. Illuminating photo- Phalaropes had returned to Mono graphs, including an outstanding Lake ! aerial of the Mono Craters and the south end of Mono Lake, For the next hour we sat, our eyes scanning the eastern horizon complement the text. We only regret that this guidebook treats as thousands of phalaropes dropped only the southern portion of the f out of the sky. When small flocks Mono Basin. \ of a few hundred birds neared the Cdpies are available for $9.00 water they coalesced with other postpaid from: Steven R. Lipshie, flocks into mile long lines of up Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, to 5000 individuals. They then University of California, Los flew south, their white underparts Angeles, CA 90024. flashing and reflecting the setting sun. In one hour we estimated that close to 24,000 phalaropes crossed the lake towards favored feeding areas on the south side. MONO 'S FORMATIONS the complex physical interaction by David Winkler of ions in freshwater springs with ions in the Mono Lake has long been famous for water of the lake. the peculiar mineral formations, But this hypothesis seemed called "tufa," scattered along its sufficient to Russell for only shores. Words cannot adequately a short time. A pioneering study convey the effect these structures on the role of algae in the can have on the visitor who suddenly finds himself in a verdant marsh formation of travertine deposits surrounded by cream-colored appeared in the same year as Russell's "Quaternary History.** Swayed by the mushrooms and cauliflowers... Or, new evidence, Russell changed his mind looking out across the lake, is greeted by a wonderland forest of and, in 1893, asserted that algae were essential to the formation of dim, tall towers reaching out of ! Mono's tufa. their reflections into the immacu- late blue sky.. . Or, along a More than half a century later, in trackless shore, encounters intri- 1953, this theory was questioned by cate temples of cemented sand no James Dunn, who reasserted Russell * s more than waist high. When viewed original view that Mono's tufa are from boot level one can imagine entirely the result of inorganic whole successions of styles and processess occurring at the interface traditions in Lilliputian archi- between incoming fresh spring water and tecture, all displayed against the the lake's brine. The most recent sublime backdrop of the Sierran volley in this teeter-totter dialectic escarpment and the two-dimensional came in 1964. Based on microscopic ,expanse of Nonoes indigo waters. analysis of the structure of the tufa David Scholl and William Taft argued This abundance and diversity of that algae were indeed intimately tufa sculpture, unrivalled anywhere involved in its formation. They else on earth, has nourished the conceded, however, that inorganic imagination of laymen and scientists processes also played an important alike. Joseph LeConte, one of role. California's preeminent early naturalists, described Mono1 s Out of this controversy a general tufa in 1879, but a thorough picture of tufa formation emerges. account of their structure did not , the substance of appear until ten years later. which tufa is composed, has what is Israel Russell, in his comprehensive known as a low solubility product. survey of "The Quaternary History / This means that calcium and carbonate of the Mono Valley, CaliforniaYwnot ions will precipitate out of solution only described the tufa in detail, as calcium carbonate even if their but speculated for the first time concentrations in the solution are on their origins. He postulated extremely low. This that they owed their birth to - 9- acc~untsfor the purely inorganic type of tufa formation. When spring- where springs once surfaced through water mixes with carbonate-rich the bottom of the lake. Many an lakewater, most of the springwater's afternoon amble through the shrub- calcium ions are removed from solution covered slopes above Mono's shores through the precipitation of calcium is highlighted by the discovery of carbonate, forming tufa. tufa left hundreds of feet above the The roie of algae in tufa formation . present lake level by Mono's ebb. assumes importance when calcium ions Fantastic visions arise of the time have been reduced to very low levels, .when these patriarchs were forming in by the purely inorganic process described an ice-age sea many times larger than above. In the course of photosynthesis that of today. What was this pleisto- the algae absorb carbon dioxide into their cene landscape like? What birds cells. In so doing these microscopic screamed along its shores? Did plants modify the delicate equilibrium brine shrimp cloud its waters even between calcium, carbon dioxide, then? With each passing year, our and carbonate in Mono Lake. understanding of Mono and its By increasing the amount of carbonate mysterious past grows clearer, ever available for combination with calcium tantalizing us to further research and ions they facilitate the precipitation reflection. of tufa. This process actually encases the tiny algal cells in limestone caskets. Selected References The tufa structure, when viewed through a microscope, reveals the shapes of Dunn, J. R. 1953. Jour. Sedimentary these miniature plants. Petrology 23:18-23. LeConte, J. 1879. Am. Journ. Sci. 3rd Series 182189-235. Russell, I. C. 1889. U.S.G.S. 8th Annual Report; 261-394. \! ------1893. U.S.G.S. Bull. 108. Scholl, D. W. and W. H. Taft. 1964.. Journ. Sedimentary Petrology 34: 509-31 9.

WHO WE ARE, continued from page 3.

On August 15th twenty-two loyal "monophiles~' gathered in Berkeley t discuss the future of the lake and our committee. We emerged with new resolve as well as new volunteers to help us promote publicity, produce newsletters and leaflets, coordinate slide presenta- tions and meet and keep in touch with legislators and public agencies. Thus the committee continued to grow and gather strength. An understanding of the processes This fall and winter will be active involved in the genesis of tufa yields ones, especiaily for committee chair- insights into other aspects of the person David Gaines, who will be spectacular geological history of the travelling the length of the state to Mono Basin. Because their development meet with interested groups and indi- \ requires the interaction of calcium- viduals. He will be in the San Joa- bearing springwater with alkaline quin Valley between November 1st and lakewater, the larger tufa indicate -10- 14th, in Southern California between , the 15th and 30th, in the Bay Area I during December and back in Southern PLC REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES California during January of 1979. Mono County: He hopes to meet with many of you Susan Armstrong and Diana Cooke during his travels. PO Box 7062 David DeSante, David Winkler, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 Sally Judy, Steve Cunha, Gray Brechin, ?14/934-3778 Gary Gorman and Chris Swarth, out- Sacramento Valley: standing speakers and naturalists all, Dean Jue will also be talking to interested 1513 Tulane Dr. groups. Our newsletters, leaflets, Davis, CA 95616 posters and other literature will 916/756-3849 be upgraded and improved through the assistance, artistic and otherwise, San Joaquin Valley: of Gary Haas, John Weston, Erica Robert A. Barnes Buhrmann, Shirley Gordon, Ron PO Box 269 Sullivan and Joe Eaton. Doris Sloan Porterville, CA 93257 and Gary Gorman are helping coordi- 2 09/784-4477 nate slide shows and media publicity Southern California: in the Bay Area. Richard May is Mort and Edith Gaines conducting our correspondence with 3045 McConnell Dr. legislators and government agencies. Los Angeles, CA 90064 People have also volunteered to 213/838-4909 disseminate information, organize activities and, in general, represent (2) Can you help us get the / the committee on a local basis. These Mono Lake story into newspapers, "regional representativesw are the newsletters and magazines, or heart of our grassroots campaign to on radio and television? We will win people to the cause of the lake. gladly furnish factual material Their names and addresses are listed photographs and other assistance. in the adjoining box. WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO YOU are the Mono Lake Committee TOO. Help us however you can to Please circulate the enclosed defend this irreplaceable natural petition and return it to the Mono treasure. Lake Committee. If you need more copies, let us know or, better HELP US PUBLICIZE MONO'S PLIGHT yet, make your own copies or facsimiles. If enough people sign, This summer, as birds and biolog- the powers-that-be should take gists gathered on Mono's shores, the notice. Mono Lake Commi ttee was busy Bring Mono Lake's plight to the marshalling support for saving the attention of your Audubon Chapter, dying lake. Through field trips Scout Troop, and talks we reached hundreds of Garden Club or other local group. Ask them to endorse people. BUT WE NEED TO REACH the position of the Mono Lake THOUSANDS MORE NATION-WIDE! TO Committee and have them send us a do so, we need your help. letter expressing their support. Can you arrange talks to (1) If you reside in Mono County or interested groups in your community? vacation there, please write to We have knowledgeable volunteers the Mono County Supervisors willing to present Mono Lake slide expressing your feelings about programs in California this fall, the lake. Write tot Mono Countv winter and spring. If you are Board of Supervisors, ~ridge~ort; willing to schedule and publicize CA 93517. We' d appreciate copies a talk, please contact our closest of your letter and the supervisor's regional representative. -11 - response. RErnCTIONS Journal entry, 1 August, 1978

Today, while they shut off Lee WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT TOO Vining Creek, I followed a well-worn path up the scree to the summit of We receive no funds from the Mt. Dana. Snowmelt, released from Audubon Society. All our time is mnths of icy imprisonment, was volunteered. Your tax-deductable running in rills and freshets among contributions will help pay our carpets of white-petaled phlox and phone bills, travel expenses, and golden draba. To the east towering publishing and mailing costs. thunderheads spawned shadows across By the way, BUMPER STICKERS, the blue expanse of Mono Lake 6000 emblazoned with the words LONG feet below. To the north Mt. Conness LIVE MONO LAKE in attractive blue and to the south Mt. Lyell, mantled letters, are now available. We in ice and snow, shone through a thin, \ ask a minimum donation of one sickly haze. To the west the dollar. mountains disappeared into the central valley smg. The trail up Dana is a narrow sterile swath through mountain gardens. We humans always seem td tread the easiest route, crush- ing plants that we could step over. I conspire in the destruction and even rip flowers apart just to ascertain their scientific names. How to walk gently on the earth? Guiding my '64 Plymouth down the wide road cut and paved onto the shoulder of Lee Vining Canyon, I ponder these thoughts: At issue at Mono Lake is more than beauty and wildlife. At issue is our role in the evolu- tionary drama of life on earth. Shall we continue to selfishly and profligately deplete the very resources which sustain life on earth? Or shall we choose to share with other plants and animals, perceiving ourselves, not as all- powerful masters, not as slaves, but as enlightened earth housekeepers, as brothers and sisters to all living things .

I------Please fill out this coupon and I send to: 1 r want to help Mono Lake Uve on. I Here is my contxibution for: name Mono Lake Committee I 0 $10 regular antxibutor P. 0. BOX2764 1 o $5 student and fixed income - QonSor address Oakland, CA 94602 1I 0 $100e5 0 I'm interested in promoting Make checks payable to: 1 o $500 local publicity Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society. 1 $1000 I'm willing to write letters dty state zip I I I -1 2- I I I ! PLEASE HELP MONO LAKE

ule the undersigned share the conviction that Mono Lake is an irreplaceable natural treasure. We advocate stablizing Mono Lake at its 1976 surface elevation of 6378 feet. This will still allow an average annual diversion of about 25,000 acre-feet per year for human use. The islands will still exist, millions of birds will still have a place to nest, rest and feed, and the will not be plagued with alkali dust pollution. Name Address 1.

Please mail completed petitions to the Mono Lake Committee, PO Box 2764, Oakland, CA 94602 4 ON BEHALF OF MONO LAKE AND ITS LIVING INHABITANTS WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR CONTRIBUTORS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT*.. I , PATRONS. Mort and Edith Gaines, Donald Q. Miller, George and Harriet Powell, Ane Revetta, Genny Hall Smith. SPONSORS. Mrs. A. Allen, David R. and Anne H. Brower, Anton Farmen, Barbara Fess, G,ary A. Gorman, John Thomas Howell, Nina Kelley, Abigail and Gilbert King, Ralph Kunin, Robert Langbauer, Bob Loeffler, Eugenia Miller, M.D., Robert Mark, Bill Melton, Ernest and Pat Peigne, Allen C. Robinson, James H. Snowden, Dorris Sloan, Jean Slaugenhoup, Bev Steveson, Gorden True, Karen Villere, David H. Walworth, M.D., Owen H. Ware, Dr. and Mrs. John F. Weigen, John A. Weston, William D. Wright.

CONTRIBUTORS. Carrie Asher, Betty Alex, Pamela Allen, David E. Babb, Katie and Cameron Barrows, Bob Barnes, Mary Barnett, Arden H. Brame, Jr., Dennis Beale, Wendy Bevier, William H. Busby, Aida Brenneis, Elliot Burch, John Boynton, Ted Beedy, Grace Brandt, Gray Brechin, Alex Barchuk, Martha Breed, Scott and Cathy Burn, Herbert J. Britt, Robert Bakker, Alison Binder, Frnak Bonaventura, John L. Barboo, Katherine M. Clover, Mr. and Mrs. Corsentine, Julie Chapman, Ruth P. Cole, Ken Croy, Robert and Clara Calhoun, Jane Conant, Carol A. Conway, Nancy T. Conzett, Samuel J. Crawford, Jr,, Henry C. Clarke, Joan Cross, Richard Kemball Davisson, Burrell C. Dawson, Mary DeDecker, R. Delareuelle, Jean Dale, Kathy Dunny, Douglas Emery, Dan Edler, Richard Erickson, Ben and Willie Eizinger, Dr. Clyde H. Ericksen, Russ and Marilyn Fowler, Polly Fry, Kent Fickett, A1 Flinck, Cherry Franklin, Lloyd fusby, Mrs. Gwin Follis, Dick and Nay Belle Gaines, Susanne Garfield, Steve Gorelick, Steve Granholm, Brian Grant, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hansen, Sue Maree Hayes, Richard and Mary Howard, John C. and Barbara K. I' I' Hopper, Kenneth Howard, D. A. Herczog, Larry Huggins, John Harris, A. Higgins, Herb Henry, Patricia Holland, Mrs. M. H . Hazell, Dean and Sally Jue, Verna R. Johnston, Kerry Kellogg, Alice Kubernick, Alan Kirschbaum, Mrs. D. W. Koehler, Earle Koeble, George Paul Ledmer, Mary Lawton, Geraldine Lindo, Susanne A. Luther, John S. Luther, N, B. Livermore, N. Lowry, Hildegard K. Manley, Marge Meek, R. D. McCutchan, Amy Mazza, Richard H . May, Walter and Elizabeth McFarland, Michael Magliari, Cyuck Meredith, Dr. John M. Melack, Eben MacMillan, John E. Mawby, Eugene Makishima, Manolis Family, Gloria Markowitz, Marguerite B. Nash, Will Neely, Don Neubacher, Ethel Nelson, Rochelle Oldfield, Alice P. Orcutt, Cynthia Okusako, Tom Paranick, Thelma Prescott, Dr. D. R. Pitelka, Dr. Frank A. Pitelka, Tom Panas, Mary Quinn, Karon Rule, Jane Rowley, Nancy Rietzke, Elsie and Richard Ricklefs, Tom Rodgers, Ken Rice, Antonio Rossmann, A. Doyle Reed, Ted Reeves, Stephen Rothstein, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Rosecrans, Mr. and Mrs. Sunyogh, Virginia Smith, Anita Soost, Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, Jean-Marie Spoelman, Anne and Pete Sands, S. K. Stocking, Thomas and Suzanne Swedo, Stanislaus Audubon Society, Dr. and Mrs. R. B. Sinclair, Peggy Stebbins, David D. Sharp, Glenn R. Stewart, Cynthea Shepard, Leonard A. Shelton, Joanne Spitler, James B. Snyder, Carl Thelander, John E. Taft, Ed Vine, Matt Walker, Pamela Williams, Jean Walker, Tom Wainwright, Mrs. Janet Westbrook, Holbrook and Elisabeth Working, Don Whinfrey, R. Wing, Jeanne Walter, Kay C. Wylie, Mr. and Mrs, Zidell, Albert Vogel. Mono Lake Committee P. 0.Box 2764 nuuc RATE U.S. POSTAGE Oakland, CA 94602 PA1 D Pamil No. 3438 08kINd. c8. s4a2