Anything that even remotely resembled a Jeffrey pine seedling got water. I doubt it. Everyone probably had slightly different reasons. This is the question I find myself asking after my first summer leading the Mono Lake Committee's Outdoor Experiences Program. Pictures can stir the heart, but add sound, smell, touch, some well-placed ideas, and even taste, and you have the ingredients necessary to form a lasting relationship.
Watershed education is about establishing relationships.
Everyone who came to Mono Lake this past summer continued a relationship or began a new one with the water and the land. This is subjective and can not exactly be quantitatively analyzed. Perhaps decades from now when we restore Mono Lake, its streams and waterfowl habitat, and meet real water needs without further compromising what precious little of our natural water resources we have remaining, maybe then we can truly measure our success. Bartshe Miller is the Committee's Education Director. If you would like to help sponsor the program, please fill out the form at the end of this page and send it to us with your donation.