The Salton Sea, A Desert Saga

take a look around this is some of the hottest bleakest terrain on the planet summer temperatures here can reach over 125 degrees Fahrenheit where unprotected humans can dehydrate and die in a matter of hours it's the last place on earth you'd expect to find any water at all let alone a huge Inland Sea this is the land of the Salton Sea in the desert of Southern California an amazing 35 miles long and 15 miles across little-known largely ignored and misunderstood this desert ecosystem is critical to hundreds of species and it's in a lot of trouble the Salton Sea and its drainage are located in the desert of Southern California the Mojave Desert lies to the north and to the south the Sonoran Desert the Salton Sea is in the area of San Diego the Imperial Valley and the Gulf of California the Salton Sea is home to hundreds of species it's a place of unimaginable biodiversity and it faces almost certain destruction unless something is done and quickly the salton sink is a low-lying area nestled between the San Jacinto fault zone to the west and the San Andreas Fault zone to the east the Salton sink itself is an amazing 280 feet below sea level even the surface of the sea is 227 feet below sea level here in this animation we see the ancient Gulf of California at the present-day Yuma Arizona the Colorado River entered the Gulf during those days the Gulf of California extended all the way up to the present day Indio California which is very near the town of Palm Springs at the Delta of the Colorado River silt was deposited and throughout the years that silt closed off the Gulf of California leaving only a desert Lake to the north which is the present area of the Salton Sea as years went by that sea dried up having no water coming into it it became once again a bleak desert but in true form the colorado river flowed on at that point Yuma Arizona and the Gulf of California as now were some 70 miles apart but the Colorado River once again changed its course to the North no longer entering the Gulf of California but entering the Salton sink building another huge lake as it had before as the lake filled up it actually began to spill over and a new channel was dug from that lake that Inland Sea back to the Gulf of California that Lake was called Lake Hawea once again the Colorado River shifted as it did many times in history flowing back to the south in abandoning the Salton sink area once again the lake dried up the Salton sink was inhabited by scores of Native Americans and first explored by the early Spanish explorers but in 1850 gold was discovered west of here in California the Gold Fever hit hard and the rush to California and the riches that just lie waiting to be gathered up convinced some hearty souls that waiting for the snows too clear to take the safer northern route was not acceptable many tried the southern route through the salt and trough some made it and many didn't by the late 1800s it was clear that the entire area of the salton trough could become an agricultural paradise with green fields and workers it could be an amazing place as it is today but what was missing was water there simply wasn't any it was with this in mind at the California development company said about a grand scheme to bring water to the desert canals were dug diverting Colorado River water to the Salton trough shares of water were sold in a desert began to bloom into an incredible agricultural community then the unexpected the Colorado River had some high record stream flows in the amazing amount of silt the Colorado carries clogged the foundling canal systems the danger of losing their entire investment hung over the California development company their attempt at digging a new canal was thwarted by the Colorado and between 1905 and 1907 the full force of the Colorado River entered the Salton basin the current Salton Sea was created and so the latest incarnation of the Salton Sea had begun towns sprung up around it nobody believed it would last after all there was no Colorado River to fill it anymore since the dykes were repaired in 1907 it was estimated that the sea would be gone by 1923 well it wasn't the increased runoff from irrigation sustained the levels of the seed and it remains with us today but now with decreased streamflow from the Colorado River the salinity of the Salton Sea continues to rise already 25% higher than the Pacific Ocean if this continues within 10 years most of the life surrounding a Salton Sea will be gone the Salton Sea is America's most southern stop off of a Pacific Flyway over two-thirds of all species of birds in America winter or stop off at the Salton Sea its loss would be an ecological tragedy for birds that frequent not only the West Coast but all over the US Canada South America and Mexico this map shows areas of the Northern Hemisphere where birds tag at the Salton Sea have been spotted the elimination of this critical wetland could be devastating to bird populations the Salton Sea is a critical habitat many other animals of the Salton Sea are endangered the tilapia a popular game fish will die to the tune of 90 million and so as if to add insult to injury the Playa or Lake bed has trapped and sealed off dust and agricultural chemicals not only from the water but from the atmosphere should this sea evaporate the exposed lake bed would be whipped into clouds of chemical Laden dust destroying air quality threatening health and degrading the billion-dollar-a-year tourist and golf industry in the Palm Springs area but what man has created so can he destroy in this case the accidental creation of the Salton Sea has created a priceless environment for people and for animals the waters that travel from here the Imperial diversion dam near Yuma eventually end up in the Salton Sea are increasingly being diverted to urban areas and the Salton Sea its recreational opportunities and its animal life will pay the ultimate price once a recreational hotspot de Salton Sea and all of its possibilities for future recreation are slowly slipping away from us this year the California state government and cooperation of the state and federal agencies are supposed to propose a plan for the rescue of the Salton Sea but whatever plan they come up with may be too little too late to rescue the dying sea if this effort is not able to cut through the red tape and begin without delay scenes like these may never again be seen in the Salton Sea California is famous for its gold rush of 18-49 but the newest gold the goal that will make or break California and the southwestern United States is not a medal the new goals his water

Channel: bret huish

Views: 392,521

Rating: 4.7131543 out of 5

Keywords: Salton, Desert, Ecology, California, Water, Sea, drought, water

Id: BKsK13NDkpg

Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 22 2007