Fire, Water, and Mono Lake

March 17, 2023
Desert Survivor

FIRE, WATER AND MONO LAKE:

Life on the Right Side of California 
with David Carle

Sunday March 19, 2023 
7:00 PM Pacific Time

A Desert Survivors Online Presentation with Sierra Club Range of Light Group.

Mono Lake is an ancient saline lake located on the edge of Great Basin Desert.  Mark Twain, who visited in the 1860’s, described the lake as, "lifeless, treeless, hideous desert... the loneliest place on earth."  We know it today as a unique and vibrant wilderness, that is the home to trillions of alkali flies and brine shrimp, millions of birds and strange mineral formations called tufa towers. 

Mono Lake
Photo: Mono Lake Committee


Beginning in the 1940’s streams flowing into Mono Lake were diverted to aqueducts for urban use in Los Angeles––lowering the water level of the lake, imperiling nesting birds and making the exposed lakebed a source of alkali dust air pollution. Conservationists  waged a successful legal fight that stopped excessive diversions, and have partially replenished the lake level.    Drought, climate-change and continued water diversions have brought new stresses to the lake, and today environmentalists are calling for an emergency suspension of all stream diversions until Mono Lake rises at least six feet.

Mono Lake is an ecological wonder and historically intriguing and perhaps no one knows more about it than David Carle.   Mr. Carle has authored 19 books on topics of the Eastern Sierra and the Mono Basin.  He was a Ranger in California State Parks, including 18 years at the  Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve.  He has served as president of the Mono Basin Historical Society and has resided at Mono Lake for four decades. 

Please join us for Fire, Water, and Mono Lake: Life on the Right Side of California and learn about the natural and historical history of the region, the environmental concerns of the 21st Century and David Carle’s personal story of life in this special place.  

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This event is free of charge and the public is welcome.