Mono Basin Visitor Center, Lee Vining, CA
www.monolake.org/visit/vc
The Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area Visitor Center opened in 1992, and provides an excellent introduction to the Mono Basin.
The center has interactive displays that teach about many aspects of the Mono Basin's geology, ecology, and human history. The award-winning film Of Ice and Fire: A Portrait of the Mono Basin gives a splendid 20-minute introduction to Mono Lake and is shown regularly. Two galleries are showcased, including the At Mono Lake photo exhibit and a changing art exhibit. Rangers are present all day to answer your questions, and there is also a bookstore with a great selection of books about the natural and cultural history of the region. This visitor center is located at the north end of Lee Vining.
www.monolake.org/about/ecobirds
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Cliff Swallow nests, Mono Basin Visitor Center, Lee Vining, CA
www.monolake.org/about/ecobirds
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Cliff Swallow, Mono Basin Visitor Center, Lee Vining, CA (Jack)
www.monolake.org/about/ecobirds
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Mono Basin Visitor Center, Lee Vining, CA
"In the middle distance there rests upon the desert plain what appears to be a wide sheet of burnished metal, so even and brilliant is its surface. It is Lake Mono."
—Israel C. Russell, Quaternary History of the Mono Valley, 1889
Sagebrush, Jeffrey pines, volcanoes, tufa towers, gulls, grebes, brine shrimp, alkali flies, freshwater streams, and alkaline waters comprise an unlikely world at the transition between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Great Basin desert.
Pronghorn antelope graze in the Bodie Hills while yellow-bellied marmots bask in the high Sierra summer sun. Great Basin spadefoot toads fill the evening air with an endless chorus of croaking while nighthawks hunt for insects in the fading twilight. Trillions of brine shrimp eat and mate beneath the briny waters of Mono Lake as Wilson's Phalaropes feast on alkali flies in preparation for their non-stop flight to South America.
Embracing 14 different ecological zones, over 1,000 plant species, and roughly 400 recorded vertebrate species within its watershed, Mono Lake and its surrounding basin encompass one of California's richest natural areas.
www.monolake.org/about/ecobirds
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South Tufa, Mono Lake, CA
"In the middle distance there rests upon the desert plain what appears to be a wide sheet of burnished metal, so even and brilliant is its surface. It is Lake Mono."
—Israel C. Russell, Quaternary History of the Mono Valley, 1889
AGE
At least one million years old. One of the oldest continuously existing lakes in North America.
SIZE
Area
1941: 86 square miles 13 X 9 miles
1982: 60 square miles 12 X 8 miles
Volume
1941: 4,200,000 acre feet
1982: 2,200,000 acre feet
WATER
Primary water sources: Runoff from Sierra in Mill, Lee Vining, Walker, Parker and Rush Creeks, and groundwater springs.
Contents: Sodium Chloride, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Sulfate (a chloro-carbonate-sulfate "triple water" lake)
Salinity (% of dissolved solids):
1940: 5.2deg.%
1982: 9.5deg.%
pH 10
BIOLOGY
Primary lake life: algae, brine shrimp and brine flies
Nesting birds: California Gulls (50,000) Migratory species: Wilson's Phalaropes (150,000), Northern Phalaropes (50,000), Eared Grebes (1,000,000) and 79 other waterbird species.
GEOLOGY
Mono Basin: Tectonic basin formed by faulting and downwarping of earth's crust. One to three million years old.
Volcanism: Chain of 30 domes of explosive rhyolite (75% silica) erupting continuously during last 40,000 years, as recently as 640 years ago. Negit Island, Paoha Island and Black Point also of volcanic origin.
Sierra: Rising one thousand feet every million years.
www.monolake.org/visit/vc
Sagebrush, Jeffrey pines, volcanoes, tufa towers, gulls, grebes, brine shrimp, alkali flies, freshwater streams, and alkaline waters comprise an unlikely world at the transition between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Great Basin desert.
Pronghorn antelope graze in the Bodie Hills while yellow-bellied marmots bask in the high Sierra summer sun. Great Basin spadefoot toads fill the evening air with an endless chorus of croaking while nighthawks hunt for insects in the fading twilight. Trillions of brine shrimp eat and mate beneath the briny waters of Mono Lake as Wilson's Phalaropes feast on alkali flies in preparation for their non-stop flight to South America.
Embracing 14 different ecological zones, over 1,000 plant species, and roughly 400 recorded vertebrate species within its watershed, Mono Lake and its surrounding basin encompass one of California's richest natural areas.
www.monolake.org/about/ecobirds
© All Rights Reserved