Visitors, Birds Flock to Mono Lake

It has been politically controversial for quite some time. But that is only one reason why every year nearly as many visitors flock here as birds.

Mono Lake also attracts sightseers who want a close look at its curious calcium carbonate formations called tufa (pronounced too-fah) that were made when freshwater springs forced themselves up through the salty lake water to create white limestone towers.

While the oddly-shaped towers once were underwater, some now are on dry land and others peek above the lake’s shrinking water level. They have been revealed as the lake’s water level drops; something that has been occurring at an alarming rate since 1941, when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began diverting streams that feed the lake to Southern California to quench Los Angeles’ increasing thirst.

The first of about 50,000 California gulls have begun winging their way from the coast over the Sierra Nevada to nest at Mono Lake near the California-Nevada border. In spring and summer it becomes the state’s largest rookery for sea gulls, one of more than 70 bird species that visit the lake.

Yet that charming characteristic of Mono Lake also is in danger as changes in the ecosystem threaten the habitat that for centuries has been a nesting ground for birds.

For more than 700,000 years salt and other minerals flowed into the lake through the freshwater streams, but since the streams began being diverted in the 1940s the lake level has dropped as much as 50 feet and its salinity has increased greatly. This increasing salinity is threatening the food chain that feeds the birds and thus the survival of the migrating birds.

This has given ammunition to the long-standing battle between DWP and environmentalists over water rights versus preservation of the lake and its delicate ecological balance.

And Mono Lake’s future continues to be debated in the courts. Most recently, in 1989 the courts ordered DWP to raise the level of the water in the lake by restoring water flow from four streams that feed it.

In 1982 the Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve was established to protect the lake shore’s natural features. Soon after that Congress designated the area the first National Forest Scenic Area in an effort to protect Mono Basin’s natural and scenic resources.

To find out more about the lake’s endangered ecosystem, take a 1 1/2-hour weekend walk led by a ranger/naturalist from the U.S. Forest Service. Wear comfortable shoes and take binoculars. During summer it is a good idea to also take drinking water.

Walks begin at 1 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday at the South Tufa Area of the reserve. You also can tour the area on your own with a 50-cent guide map available in a box at the site.

Or follow the signs along the one-mile Mark Twain Scenic Tufa Trail nature walk. The signs also carry quotes from Twain’s popular book, “Roughing It,” which included his observations about Mono Lake when he explored its shores in 1863.

Make your headquarters the friendly roadside hamlet of Lee Vining.

Drive there from Los Angeles by heading north on Interstate 5 and California 14, or east and north on Interstates 10 and 15, to join U.S. 395 flanking the eastern Sierra range. About 20 miles beyond the turnoff to Mammoth Lakes, turn right on California 120 and follow signs to the South Tufa Area at the edge of Mono Lake.

While no fish live in salty Mono Lake, the lake is teeming with life.

In winter, blooming algae color the lake a vibrant green and feed tiny brine shrimp and brine flies which, in turn, attract thousands of birds including gulls and snowy plovers that arrive to nest around the shore.

Even more spectacular is the midsummer migration of about 150,000 red-necked and Wilson’s phalaropes, followed by the arrival of 800,000 eared grebes, who dive for the brine shrimp.

The lake also is popular with swimmers who enjoy the buoyant lake water that is 2 1/2 times saltier than the oceans.

Don’t forget to visit Panum Crater, one of 21 volcanic cones at the south edge of Mono Lake that form the youngest mountain range in North America.

Panum Crater, one of the most accessible of the craters, offers a spectacular view of the chain of other Mono craters, as well as of Mono Lake, the third-largest lake in the state.

If traveling from the South Tufa Area to Lee Vining, detour off California 120 at the sign to Panum Crater.

A trail leads up to the rim of this volcano, which erupted 600 years ago and left a layer of dark-gray pumice around its cone.

Get to the visitor center, a mini-museum and office of the Mono Lake committee to save the ancient inland sea, by returning to U.S. 395 and continuing north about five miles to Lee Vining. The center is two doors beyond Nicely’s restaurant.

Visitors can see a 20-minute slide show about the Mono Basin. An aquarium contains live brine shrimp and birds of the area are on display.

The center also has an excellent selection of nature posters and books, including guides to birds, animals, trees and other plants and trails.

And Mono Lake brochures and guidebooks describe other tufa areas. One is only a few miles north of town on a side road from U.S. 395 to Mono Lake County Park, where a boardwalk leads through a marsh to tufas on the north shore.

The visitor center/tourist office is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The telephone is (619) 647-3686. They can provide information about restaurants and lodgings.

Nicely’s serves hearty fare every day (except Wednesday in winter), and Yosemite Trails is only open for breakfast and lunch.

The 12-room Gateway Motel offers views of the lake. Rates for a double are from $35. Call (619) 647-6467 for reservations.

The Best Western Lake View Lodge has lake views from eight of its 44 rooms. Its doubles are from $40, $52 after April 22. For reservations call (619) 647-6543.

For more information about the guided tufa walks, call the U.S. Forest Service, (619) 647-6525. The Tufa State Reserve office is in Lee Vining, but its lone ranger is frequently out.

The main USFS ranger office for Mono Lake is about two miles south of Lee Vining along the road to the Tioga Pass (California 120).

Round trip from Los Angeles to Mono Lake is 666 miles.