Ryan Garrett, education director for the Mono Lake Committee, uses a nine-foot pole to show where the water level is supposed to be to protect the lake's health. At a trailhead surrounded by sagebrush ...

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At a trailhead surrounded by sagebrush, a naturalist welcomes a group of visitors to Mono Lake beside a sign that reads “Oasis in the Desert.” Guide Ryan Garrett, his face alight, greets the group of ...

On a walking tour at Mono Lake, visitors get a stark introduction to 80-plus years of Los Angeles’ water use. Interpretive signs stand among exposed tufa towers. They trace the lake’s decline, showing ...