Dear friends,
A lot of new items are on the Mono Basin Clearinghouse:

NEW WEBSITE SECTION: MONO BASIN FIELD STATION!
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/station/
        The Mono Lake Committee purchased the King's Inn Motel two years ago and has dedicated a portion of it to be the Mono Basin Field Station. This facility is intended to support scientific research in the area. This new section of the Mono Basin Clearinghouse Website not only provides information about that resource, but also includes information about other on-the-ground resources in the Mono Basin, such as the Mono Lake Research Library and the New Zealand Mud Snail Freezer.

RAW DATA
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/index.html
        Tioga Pass Opening and Closing dates
Updated for 2004 (and 2005 opening).
        Mono Basin Real-time Flow Website
LADWP is improving the reliability of the site and is now posting the daily aqueduct report. The explanation frames page we provide on the Clearinghouse has been updated for 2005, including the runoff forecast and required flows.

        Lee Vining Weather Summaries for March, April, May 2005
 Average March and April temperatures were very similar to 2002. Average March temperatures were the coldest in at least 5 years, and April temperatures were slightly lower than April 1998. May precipitation was the highest since 1995.

        NOAA Lee Vining precipitation since 1989
So far since October, Lee Vining has had the third highest precipitation of the 1989-present period of record. An excel file lists monthly precip with annual, winter, and summer max/min/averages.

        DeChambeau Ponds Waterfowl Counts
Counts done by the USFS (Larry Ford) since 2002, including raw data and an annual summary.

CURRENT RESEARCH
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/research/
        Lee Vining Creek Peak Flow Predictive Model
Peter Vorster and Greg Reis of the Mono Lake Committee have been tracking peak flows for the last several years in an attempt to help LADWP determine when to stop diverting water from Lee Vining Creek (DWP is prohibited from diverting the peak flow). Tracking snowmelt and temperatures at several stations and converting to a snowmelt index, combined with the temperature forecast from the National Weather Service, allows 1-6 day prediction of the peak. Total volume of runoff provides an indicator of how much snow is left in the watershed.

        White-crowned Sparrows at Tioga Pass
Some new links to journal articles on White-crowned Sparrows have been added.

REPORTS AND STUDIES ONLINE
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/online/
        LADWP Compliance Reporting, 2004 & 2005
The State Water Resources Control Board requires the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to submit an annual report summarizing operations, construction, restoration work, and monitoring activities during the previous year. Each report binder is a large PDF download approximately 30-160 MB in size. Each year's CD can also be requested directly from LADWP.

        Richardson, T. R. and S. Heath. 2005. EFFECTS OF CONIFERS ON ASPEN-BREEDING BIRD COMMUNITIES IN THE SIERRA NEVADA.  TRANSACTIONS OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY 40:68-81. Under "Birds", click on "PRBO's Eastern Sierra Projects".

        HABITAT AS A PREDICTOR OF HATCH SYNCHRONY IN THE BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, 2004 Report
Christopher M. Tonra, MSc Candidate, Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University. Under "Birds", click on "PRBO's Eastern Sierra Projects".

        ATYPICAL WILLOW FLYCATCHER NESTING SITES IN A RECOVERING RIPARIAN CORRIDOR AT MONO LAKE, CALIFORNIA
CHRIS McCREEDY and SACHA K. HEATH, PRBO Conservation Science. 2004. Under "Birds", click on "PRBO's Eastern Sierra Projects".

        Restoration of Degraded Riparian, Wetland, and Deltaic Environments on Mill Creek, Mono County, CA November 1995

By Scott Stine. This document is not searchable. In the future we hope to add more of Dr. Stine's work in a searchable format.

LINKS
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/links/
        Global Warming and Songbirds in California
A site by the American Bird Conservancy with a PDF file for each state listing possible effects of global warming on songbirds and their ranges.

        Intermountain West Waterbird Conservation
A page by the Fish and Wildlife Service about the conservation plan.

GIS
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/gis/
        Worldwind
NASA landscape 3D visualisation program

UNSUBSCRIBE
If at any time you decide that you no longer wish to receive these occasional (approx. quarterly) updates about additions to this Website, please email unsubscribe@monobasinresearch.org and ask to be removed from the list. If you know of anyone who would be interested in these updates, please forward them this update and tell them to email research@monolake.org to receive future updates. To see update emails through 2003 visit www.monobasinresearch.org/updates

Thanks for your interest in Mono Basin research,
Greg

Greg Reis, Information Specialist
Mono Lake Committee, P.O. Box 29, Lee Vining, CA 93541
760-647-6595 | www.monolake.org