Qualla: Mono Lake

Mono Lake: Introduction

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit specchio.nero, CC BY-SA 2.0. Mono Lake has existed for at least 760,000 years, making it one of the oldest lakes in North America. Its saline waters, nearly three times saltier than the ocean, support a unique ecosystem of brine shrimp and alkali flies that feed millions of migratory birds. Bizarre calcium carbonate formations called tufa towers rise from the water like ghostly sculptures. But by the 1980s, Mono Lake was dying. Since 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power had been diverting the streams that fed the lake, sending the water 350 miles south through aqueducts to supply the growing city. The lake level dropped 45 feet, doubling salinity and exposing the tufa towers. Then environmentalists sued, and in a landmark 1983 decision, California courts ruled that the public trust doctrine protected Mono Lake. Los Angeles had to let the lake recover. It's still recovering today.

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Image: specchio.nero | CC BY-SA 2.0

Mono Lake: The Lake

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ron Reiring, CC BY 2.0. Mono Lake sits in a closed basin on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of 6,400 feet. It has no outlet; water leaves only through evaporation, concentrating salts and minerals over the eons. The result is highly alkaline water - pH around 10 - that supports n...

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Image: Ron Reiring | CC BY 2.0

Mono Lake: The Diversion

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. Los Angeles's thirst was insatiable. By 1913, the city had already drained the Owens Valley, 100 miles south. In 1941, it extended its aqueduct north to the Mono Basin, capturing the streams that fed Mono Lake. Over the following decades, the lake dropped 45 feet and lost half it...

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Image: Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

Mono Lake: The Lawsuit

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA, CC BY 2.0. In 1979, the Mono Lake Committee was formed to save the lake. In 1983, the California Supreme Court ruled in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court that the public trust doctrine - an ancient legal principle protecting navigable waters and tidelands for public use - applied t...

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Image: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA | CC BY 2.0

Mono Lake: The Recovery

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alec Perkins from Hoboken, USA, CC BY 2.0. Mono Lake is slowly recovering. The level has risen about 15 feet since its 1982 low, though it remains below the target. Tufa towers that were fully exposed now stand in shallow water. The bird populations have stabilized. Los Angeles has found alternative water sources through ...

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Image: Alec Perkins from Hoboken, USA | CC BY 2.0

Mono Lake: Visiting Mono Lake

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matthew.kowal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mono Lake is located on the eastern Sierra, along Highway 395, about 13 miles east of Yosemite's Tioga Pass entrance. The Mono Lake Committee Information Center in Lee Vining provides orientation. The South Tufa area, accessible via a short trail, offers the best views of tufa to...

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Image: Matthew.kowal | CC BY-SA 4.0