Tag Archive for: Salton Sea

Salton Sea Management Effort Lags As Water Continues To Recede

/in , /by /KPBSby Erik Anderson

Imperial Valley officials are reportedly close to finishing an important habitat restoration project at the Salton Sea. The remake of Red Hill Bay was supposed to be a model for a management plan around the shrinking lake, but the effort is two years overdue and still months away from completion. The Salton Sea needs a management plan because water is evaporating faster than it’s being replaced, and that’s leaving large swaths of lakebed exposed to the elements. “You got the Salton Sea probably a mile out there. Along the shoreline. You see the playa here,” said Bruce Wilcox, California Resources Agency Assistant Secretary of Salton Sea Policy.

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New Project Takes Aim At Controlling Salton Sea Dust

/in , /by /KPBSby Erik Anderson

As the water pulls back from long-time shorelines along California’s Salton Sea, officials are working to keep dust from the exposed lake bottom out of the air. Bruce Wilcox of the California Resources Agency looked out at what is now the new normal on the 35-mile-long lake’s southeastern shore. “Fifteen years ago there was water right where we’re standing and it’s just receded that much,” Wilcox said as he stood on a spur of land that used to be part of a boat launch.

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Top Fed Backs IID Push For Salton Sea Farm Bill Clean-Up Funds, With No Linkage To Drought Plan

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

As promised, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman on Friday wrote a letter of support to the Imperial Irrigation District, backing efforts to win substantial Farm Bill funds to restore the dwindling Salton Sea. But she stopped short of linking a pledge of funds to the seven-state Colorado River drought package that she is pushing to complete in two weeks. Instead, she said adopting the drought plan was the single biggest step to both preserving drinking water across the West and to preserving the Salton Sea.

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Change At The Salton Sea Is Affecting Bird Populations

/in , /by /KPBSby Erik Anderson

California’s largest lake has long attracted visitors. Many go there year-round to see thousands of birds congregating around the lake and its nearby habitats, but the lake is changing and that’s changing bird populations. More than 400 different species have been recorded here and estimates put the daily bird population around the sea at more than 100,000. That’s great for bird watchers like Ryan Llamas. The Audubon Society member’s binoculars are pressed tightly against his eyes as he scans the open water.

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Feds Say Salton Sea Won’t Be Adversely Impacted By Multi-State Drought Plan; IID Can Join When It Chooses

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

Days after Imperial Irrigation District officials said there had been a breakthrough in their negotiations with federal officials to commit to the restoration of the Salton Sea in a mammoth Colorado River drought plan, a top federal official offered a different assessment. “California has already found a path that ensures that the Salton Sea is not impacted by the (drought contingency plan) and we hope to be able to find a path to work as partners with IID to approve the DCP as soon as possible, while we continue to be a strong partner on the Salton Sea,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said in a written statement.

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Breaking Impasse, Feds Will Include Salton Sea In Seven-State Drought Plan, IID Says

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson and Ian James

There may be hope for finalizing a sweeping Colorado River drought contingency plan after all. Imperial Irrigation District officials announced at a special board meeting late Friday that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has agreed to their condition that the drought package include restoration of the Salton Sea. They said federal officials will write a strong letter of support backing IID’s requests for $200 million in Farm Bill funding for wetlands projects around the shrinking sea, which is California’s largest inland water body. The projects are aimed at keeping down dust along the shorelines and salvaging deteriorating habitat for fish and birds.

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OPINION: We Can Plan For A ‘Leaner’ Colorado River As We Save The Salton Sea

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ted Kowalski

Over the past five years, the seven Colorado River Basin states have been working to develop a series of drought contingency plans (DCPs) to safeguard water levels at Lake Mead. Responding to a 19-year drought, leaders throughout the basin are at last close to finalizing the agreements necessary to bolster conservation and safeguard water levels on the river. The DCPs will ensure that the Colorado River basin can balance water supplies and demands in a way that supports a healthy river and environment. The future of the Colorado River depends on the conservation and flexibility within the DCP agreements.

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With CVWD Okay, Imperial Irrigation District Now Holds Key To Seven State Drought Deal

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

It’s all up to the Imperial Irrigation District. The fate of a seven-state plan to address dwindling Colorado River water supply now appears to rest squarely with the sprawling southeastern California water district. Its neighbor to the north, the Coachella Valley Water District, voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve interstate agreements that would conserve water for use by 40 million people and vast swaths of agricultural lands. IID has tied its approvals to a binding promise to receive $200 million in federal matching funds to restore the fast-dwindling Salton Sea, which lost critical Colorado River water imports a year ago.

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Salton Sea: Fish And The Birds That Fed On Them Wiped Out This Winter

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

Tim Bradley crunched across a broad beach made of dead barnacles and fish bones. He bent down and stirred green slime, tinged with brown foam at the western edge of the vast lake unfurled before him. It was a sign for the longtime biologist that the much-maligned Salton Sea is alive. “It’s just algae and bacteria and scum and so forth, but it’s an incredible thing, because this could be a very productive site,” he said. “The water is so full of nutrients. See those bubbles there? The only question is, what’s going to take advantage of that?”

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A Suffering Habitat: Death Of Thousands Of Birds Highlights Sea’s Decline

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Vincent Osuna

The death of a couple thousand birds of an infectious disease at the Salton Sea earlier this month has helped underscore the impact of diminished quality and quantity of the habitats there. A large number of ruddy ducks, as well as gulls and other birds, migrating to the sea for the winter were killed between Jan. 8 and Jan. 17 by avian cholera, an infectious bacterial disease that spreads through direct contact.

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