Trillions of Animals Rely On This Lake (And It's Drying Up)

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

Tufa! 🥰 Mono Lake was almost completely destroyed by the real estate and Big Ag gangsters who diverted all this public good water for their greedy, private purposes. Thankfully the environmental community saved it, at least for a while.

[@monolake]

The work to save Mono Lake continues today! The Mono Lake Committee is working to ensure the protection and restoration of Mono Lake for future generations.

[@jimbarth9859]

Big Ag gangsters Translation: Those who feed us

[@mattmininberg6582]

I went there this summer with my fiancé and it is truly a magical place worthy of protection. It downpoured as we visited so hopefully this particularly wet summer helps the lake come back.

[@monolake]

The lake has risen more than 4.5 feet this year, which is great news, but there's more to go for Mono Lake to reach a healthy level.

[@maxasaurus3008]

@@monolakethank god, seems as soon as I find out about such natural beauty humans are close to destroying it. So we have a small extension but we need more!❤

[@veggiedisease123]

@@monolake How far below conservation is it? I read online something like 8ft, so hopefully two more good (El Nino) winters.

[@monolake]

@@veggiedisease123 It's about 8.8 feet below the State Water Board ordered healthy level of 6392 feet above sea level. You can see updates on the lake level posted on our website at monolake.org

[@marim0y]

It's amazing to me that we can watch this incredible filmmaking and story telling for free. Thank you, PBS.

[@russoleum]

A ticket to the Mono Lake Visitor Center is a great value: you’ll always get to see tufa the price of one. (#dadjokes)

[@JugglinJellyTake01]

Phalaropes, like most jacanas, are fascinating as they are one of few bird species where parenting roles are reversed. Males look after the brood and females are larger, more colourful and compete between females for access to males.

[@KQEDDeepLook]

Excellent episode, and series!🤍🪰

[@ryanreedgibson]

I just found your channel yesterday where I first heard about this lake. Both are great channels.

[@KEJDMmm]

If everywhere in the world, our water resources of any type were protested and cared for like Mona Lake…we would be more secure in the planets future water sources. Keep up the good work!

[@VeteranVandal]

That's not capitalist enough. All that matters is generating money. The lakes are all gonna be vaporized so someone can cash in some.

[@davidgrech4574]

Thank you for all your efforts to help keep the lake safe from the destructive challenges that are facing it👍🌎

[@Psysium]

Incredible. I could have watched a full length documentary about this. I love the generational love the lake has inspired. I hope that continues, and that whole lineages fight for the rights of Earth. ❤

[@Sentarry]

Me: That's good they eat the flies. It's like an "all-you-eat buffet for the birds" Also me: 4:18 "... oh."

[@idkidk8278]

So weird. Deep look just posted within same hour about this lake

[@idkidk8278]

Nvm you guys are sister channels or something

[@curiodyssey3867]

They are both made by PBS

[@Esoterictism]

Same footage cut at different scenes

[@Dragrath1]

From the geological perspective Mono lake is also pretty special compared to many of the other remaining saline lakes because its also home to an active volcano within the Mono-Inyo volcanic chain which last erupted in 1790 CE. The reason the lake basin and the associated volcanoes are there is because North America and the Pacific Plate are grinding against each other as the Pacific plate heads north while North America moves towards the southwest causing lots of strain to build up in the crust out west as it is quite literally being twisted/dragged in a clockwise rotation (measurable annually by GPS). In California in particular the proximity to the Pacific is leading to the region anchored by the Sierra Nevada batholith known as the Great Valley Sierra Nevada block/microplate to be literally getting sheered off the continent on geological timescales along the complex series of faults often referred to as Walker lane. The Mono-Inyo chain Mammoth Mountain and Long Valley Caldera are all examples of volcanoes that have formed where the crust is being torn apart. Of course this is all taking place on geologic timescales a.k.a. millions of years so no need to worry about California getting ripped off the continent and carried North following Baja California. Based on new research California like most of the western coast is a relative newcomer to North America representing part of a major Volcanic archipelago not unlike modern Indonesia and New Guinea which was part of a series of continent arc collisions between the Jurassic and Paleogene, with the arcs which would become the Sierra Nevada batholith colliding with North America back in the Cretaceous around 90 million years ago and getting welded to the continent as the subducting slab broke off into the mantle when North America's continental shelf was dragged into the subduction zone, (a process termed slab failure)

[@janetpattison8474]

We shall see how seismic activity plays out in the future. Underground nuclear testing may be the ruination of the continent since they can activate earthquakes. There are fault lines all throughout the United States and a few active volcanoes that are not in Alaska, like Mt. St. Helen, but especially the Yellowstone volcanic area which is massive. There is a gigantic caldera outside of Los Alamos, NM. Who has any idea if earthquakes can activate dormant volcanoes.

[@josephjasonsantiagolacour]

Salute to the Kutzadika’a Paiute people who have resided in that area since before before.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

And had to suffer greatly after the European gangster capitalists invaded.

[@ryanreedgibson]

The water is really wet and sticky. Another channel called deep look did a great video on how the flies use an air sack to go under water to eat the algae. California's water usage is criminal.

[@ellenbryn]

Great stuff as always. Here's a deep dive topic: How does the weather in the southern hemisphere differ from the northern, due to far less continental land mass and mountains until high latitudes, where suddenly it's just the reverse … a continent over the pole? There's a polsr vortex over each pole, but one is boundedby a jet dtream that traverses a lot of land, while the other's got open ocean to roar around. And how is climate change playing out differently (if it is) down under?

[@VeteranVandal]

Alkali fly, brine shrimp and tufa is SERIOUS costume game.

[@Pigpen1202]

Very cool. I will visit soon

[@Pottery4Life]

Thank you for sharing.

[@cartoonraccoon2078]

4:40 let's just skip over the fact that these birds use waterbending to suck up food...

[@studiosandi]

Thank you for your hard work in trying to repair the damage we've caused to this beautiful planet❤

[@chefscorner7063]

I lived in the area back in the 80s and remember the legal battles over the water rights. It was and still is an ugly fight to keep what water rights they managed to win back. The lake has been around long enough to have survived global climate change in the past. If they can stop diverging the water it'll continue to survive.

[@janetpattison8474]

I’ve been there. Very cool, but the water table was low. I believe it was LA that pretty much drained the lake, before someone woke up, and started a movement to stop draining and destroying the lake.

[@ryanreedgibson]

What a great story!

[@veramentegina]

Thank you for saving and protecting Mono Lake! Future generations should inherit something beautiful not only the bad stuff.

[@jacobfoster9185]

Yet we don't hear about the ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING PUTRID SMELL OF DECAY ....

[@janicegardner4216]

Well done! Loved this

[@99guspuppet8]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ people visit everything and wreck what is there …… so narcissistic

[@Rnankn]

I’m legitimately baffled as to how short term sectional interests are protected as rights, but the long term viability of nature is optional. Nature should always be preserved, and humans required to work around those limits by creatively adapting, or practicing restraint.

[@LoveTrueMusic1]

Sad that there was no mention of the Mono American Indians who have stewarded the lake far longer than any USians have.

[@jaykpjohnson]

such a beautiful place, thank you to all who are working to protect it

[@MMPAspergerian]

If you take a dip, will it have a similar effect like the Dead Sea?

[@chefscorner7063]

Yes. It really does.

[@Cobbmtngirl]

I had hoped that last years winter snow pack would help places like Mono Lake.

[@chefscorner7063]

It did help, but it's a continuous problem for the area. Much of the water rights were bought up for pennies in the early 1900s and that water goes to the Calif Inland Valley where a tremendous amount of the countries and world's agriculture is grown so it's been a long tough fight to regain even some of those water rights. Hope that answers any questions.;)

[@CesarHernandez-ht5ex]

With no water I wander how much we have to live.

[@Sad_Bumper_Sticker]

Excited to watch the titular video from your photo post🌲🐦‍⬛🪰🪰🪰

[@clueless2507]

❤

[@Edna-p5g]

Needs to work on enunciating.

[@Cobbmtngirl]

A very special place! We called the alkali flies pleasant flies. Lol

[@RoshenRRujj]

Amazing episode! Thanks Deep Look for sharing this post!

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

Mona lake isn't a place I hear about a lot. But it very much should be since I am a fan of horror movies Why isn't this in more horror films?!?!?!?!

[@chefscorner7063]

I know I've seen half a dozen or so movies with Mono Lake in them, so it's not a far fetched idea.

[@aprilmeowmeow]

wonderful video. thank you ❤

[@someone.36]

Deep look sent me🎉

[@LazyTallGuy]

Deep look sent me!

[@derekj7352]

Deep look sent me!

[@FCOLAXCDG]

❤️🇱🇨!!! #SaltonSea

[@michealwestfall8544]

I wonder if it would help if they just pumped sea water into it. Or would it be too much added salt.

[@Beryllahawk]

I was thinking something similar, what if we could somehow bring water from other locations - but - it occurs to me that we'd also inevitably bring all the microbes from those other locations, and while many might die in the lake's extreme pH, many WOULDN'T... and that might cause a lot of problems. But it sure is a nice idea to think there must be some way to help bring more water to this ecosystem.

[@Dragrath1]

Its a tricky sentiment stuck between preserving what life is tehre today and dealing with the ever changing future. Given the geologic setting in many tens of millions of years the Pacific Ocean will likely get into what is today Mono lake since Mono Lake is part of the Mono Inyo volcanic chain which like other volcanoes in that part of southern California, i.e. Mammoth mountain Long Valley Caldera is a result of the relative motion between North America and the Pacific plate leading to the region known as the Great Valley Sierra Nevada block/microplate getting sheered off of North America by the clockwise rotational strain. Eventually provided the Slab pull dragging North America southwest continues it will likely follow in the path of the Channel islands and Baja California San Andreas block which have been ripped off the continent already and are getting dragged along the transform fault known as the San Andreas. Some of these blocks such as death Valley and teh Salton sea area are already well below sea level and are only dry land due to intervening higher terrain blocking the ocean and the low rates of precipitation. However on the other side of the picture recent geology work out west is revealing a complex picture(check out Nick Zentner's channel and the Baja BC controversy A to Z livestream or at least the summary lecture video for more on this) where much of western North America was originally a series of volcanic archipelagos out in the Panthalassa/Pacific Ocean which North America slammed into between the Jurassic and the Paleogene with South America performing a similar journey much more recently in the Oligocene and Miocene to the original "ring of fire", a zone of preferential subduction zones that serves as Earth's downwelling mantle flow. (The Caribbean is in large part the remnant wedge of these arcs which were missed when NA and SA rammed through the broader arc complexes building up the Laramide and and Andes mountains as a result with a squished bridge of arcs now linking the two continents. The point of this is that much of the flora and fauna of the Americas has a long legacy of past evolutionary isolation due to various towering mountain chains and oceanic islands serving as formidable geographic barriers for speciation. Now species have made it through and dispersed many times but its not as easy to do so when oceans and towering ranges are in the way while island chains also serve as stepping stones which can allow species to over many generations and circumstances travel across oceans.

[@chefscorner7063]

It's over 300 miles from the closest ocean. Not financially feasible. Be cheaper to build a desalination plant, use that water to feed the agricultural need and then give back the water rights that currently take a majority of the water back to the lakes water district. Viola problem solved and jobs created. Seems like a win/win situation to me, or at least more feasible. Maybe I should run for President? Hmmmm🤔

[@JB-rt4mx]

TUFAS

[@lindafox1679]

😢 🦅🦆🐦‍⬛

[@maxasaurus3008]

How stupid can we be?!

[@conniewojahn6445]

As sad as it is, water needed by little flies and tiny shrimp will go to people who want to water their lawns and wash their vehicles. I wish it wasn't so.

[@chefscorner7063]

Actually, a lot of the water goes to agriculture, but I get your point.

[@jamiegallier2106]

❤

[@wendyscott8425]

They need to get a bunch of beavers to work the streams that feed Mono Lake, at least in areas where there are trees. I understand one of the streams has some, but they need more. Those creatures would increase the water in those streams and help less water to be diverted to Los Angeles. The beavers purify water before it enters the lake and also replenish the groundwater. They also attract all kinds of wildlife with their freshwater ponds, which often survive even the worst droughts. They can transform that landscape into a green and vibrant area.

[@chefscorner7063]

If you saw the area you'd understand that it's not the best place for beavers as the area has very little tree growth. Unless of course it's radically changed since the 80s when I lived in the area. Great place for wind sports though! (nothing to block the wind)

[@wendyscott8425]

@@chefscorner7063 There don't have to be that many trees as long as there are shrubs that can be used. Trees can pop up when birds drop seeds as long as there's some wetland. At any rate, there are beavers on some of the tributaries, as I was told by someone on the Mono Lake Committee a year or so agao.

[@railroader921]

Did the wet year i.e heavy snowfall and Hurricane Hilary affect the lake level at Mono Lake?

[@monolake]

Yes, Mono Lake has risen more than 4.5 vertical feet so far this year!

[@maureenbarnhart8057]

Thanks--that was my question, too!

[@misusedfilms69]

Mammoth local! The sunrises are the best on Earth!

[@chefscorner7063]

OG Mammoth Local from the 80s. It's called "The Sierra Wave". You should know that as a local. They still ski Hole-in-the-wall up on the mountain??Or hike up to the Sherwin Fingers after a storm to put the first tracks down. Ahh the memories. That was a rush back in the day. LOL

[@robbabcock_]

Very cool!

[@kidmohair8151]

of course, the ever present zombie-fueled internal combustion engine, and all that is required to keep those burping out CO and CO2 and paving the earth in a layer of yet more zombie fuel, so that there are "good" jobs... are heavily represented, both in the video itself and the advertising that is peremptorily inserted into it.

[@carmamd]

❤❤❤

[@whatperera591]

Hi guy's nice to meet you all. We know climates challenges increased everyday. We needed to start. Beyonde organic world. Lk

[@karllossemmeddo1832]

NATURE IS WONDERFUL 🌹HOPE HUMAN BEINGS DON'T DESTROY IT 🌹❤🙏

[@rickkearn7100]

These are actually part of a natural formation, not towers (towers are man made structures). And no evidence has been discovered of alien life living on, in or amongst this formation. Labelling it an "alien oasis" seems a bit misleading. PBS Terra information has gotten surprisingly inaccurate. What could be the cause? ;)

[@monolake]

You're right, tufa towers are natural formations, but many people think Mono Lake looks like an alien landscape because it's so unique.

[@Chompchompyerded]

I love to go fishing in Mono Lake. It's a metaphor for my life. No matter how hard I try or how long, I'll never get anything or ever be successful. I guess on the good side, I've never had a game warden come up to me wanting to check and see if I was over limit, or if my fish were the right size. I guess they figure if I'm crazy enough to fish Mono Lake, they probably should keep their distance. I don't bite though, so if any wardens see this they should feel free to come up and do a little jaw jacking for a bit with me. That would be a fun change of events.

[@JACKnJESUS]

The obvious answer is to return the stream back to the lake...what is the problem? California is one of the most ecologically conscious states in the country...just give it back...who would complain?

[@deannamadrigal7503]

Beautiful... But remember Everything in constant change. New Earth New human. Evolution of consciousness and you chose to come here to be here in this great time of earth's and humanity's transformation. Harsh but true

[@photobobo]

So, why are you out there buzzing around in your fossil fuel propelled boat?

[@Cowskiman]

While in cities that are democrats. Hypocrites. They love the green new deal, nature, animals yet are ok with this? Hahahahaha democrats 🤡

[@studiosandi]

How is it you're preserving the lake and you're using a motor on it? On the one hand I hope it's electric except for there's so much slave labor going into the metals to make electric motors. And if it's an internal combustible engine then you're leaving trails of oil and gasoline on top of the water.

[@SamLo-t5z]

There is an argument said some of preservation or environmental works have been based on not able to accept environment and ecology are always changing. Rather than not accept changes, but we should adjust and work with changes.

[@monolake]

The Mono Lake story is a story of scientists, decision makers, and citizens working to regulate human activities (water diversions) to promote the best outcomes for the ecology that is present today. The policies in place to protect Mono Lake are a compromise that acknowledges that we can’t fully restore Mono Lake to pre-diversion levels, but we can do a lot to restore it to a healthy and vibrant ecosystem.

[@livewire2k4]

you lost me at "climate change" , see ya

[@Cowskiman]

Hahahahahahaha same

[@SolaceEasy]

I sure wish you hadn't used a drone around the tufa towers.

[@cub1009]

0/10 no Walmart

[@tehNashty]

Seems to me, these people could be more ecological and eliminate their use of fossil fuels...

[@EvoS76]

Well, I was going to sub but left at “due to climate change”. I’m old enough to remember when “scientists” said we were going to have another ice age because of global cooling. Then Florida was going to be underwater. I’m sure you’ll come up with some new form of climate hysteria in a few years to keep your religion going. Let’s pretend climate change is real. As a pilot I have flown over vast swaths of the United States over 20 years. I can affirm that the world is not over populated. And I can also assure you that climate change (if it were real) is not caused by people. And I promise that there would be nothing people could do to prevent, or slow, or mitigate it. Take off you evolutionism glass so you can view the world more clearly. It makes more sense and is less scary when you realize we are in God’s hands.

[@F34kyoutube]

When I realized it was in America, I thought it's doomed! American Corpate greed greed supercedes all else!

[@Cowskiman]

Building a city in a desert then taking all the tributaries to mono lake…. La sure is wonderful. Skid row, homeless and violent crime in La is way better than leaving nature alone🤡🤡 democrats

[@Snowflakeliberalsaremelting]

We need more fossil fuels and much less lunatic activists

[@lilysceeliljeaniemoonlight]

Why is it called Monolake? Hi from🇦🇺⚡🌺⚡🦠