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Archive 2016 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight

  
 
jdc562
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


The Salton Sea is the biggest lake in California, but it is going downhill fast. Diversions of freshwater inputs are causing the lake volume to shrink and the salinities to increase to concentrations that are lethal to fish. Loss of lake habitat threatens the tens of thousands of migratory waterbirds that depend on the lake for overwintering habitat, not to mention the impacts on waterbirds that live and breed here year around.

In honor of the recent announcement that the Federal government is initiating projects to improve some Salton Sea habitats, I pulled some photos from the vault to show some of the birds and habitats at the Salton Sea that could benefit. The environs of the Salton Sea are much more than the blighted shorelines portrayed by most photographers

1. More than 20,000 American white pelicans overwinter at the Salton Sea.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-rg4cL2M/1/X2/_DSC0181-X2.jpg

2. The wingspan of the American white pelican is the second widest of North American birds, exceeded only by the wingspan of the California condor.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-mJZnSXH/2/X2/_DSC0442-X2.jpg

3. White and brown pelicans side-by-side at the Salton Sea.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-S8v9txp/1/X2/_DSC1042%20crop-X2.jpg

4. Tens of thousands of snow geese and Ross's geese also overwinter at the Salton Sea.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-tF6jBfG/4/X2/_DSC0560%208b%202k%20copy%20s-X2.jpg

5. Nesting egrets and cormorants.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-7QfJk3w/3/X2/_DSC6413-X2.jpg

6. Sandhill cranes arrive at a stormy sunset.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-cqfJV2T/1/X2/_DSC1427-X2.jpg

7. Sandhill cranes in their overnight pond at the edge of the Salton Sea.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Salton-Sea-1/i-htpSH59/0/X2/_DSC4523%202k-X2.jpg



Sep 01, 2016 at 05:03 PM
mikedec
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Nice shots and interesting story.


Sep 01, 2016 at 05:37 PM
reko
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Nice shots and an interesting narrative too.


Sep 01, 2016 at 05:55 PM
dorian
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Very, very nice. I bird the SS regularly and you've really captured its feel with these wonderful shots.


Sep 01, 2016 at 05:56 PM
surfnron
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Very nicely done and informative too ~ Ron


Sep 01, 2016 at 06:49 PM
Scrumhalf
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Great shots! It's our own Aral Sea. We can look down our noses at the Uzbeks and Kazakhs but in some ways, we are not doing much better.


Sep 01, 2016 at 10:07 PM
mogul
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


It is a man made water body whose time is coming to an end..the only thing that can save it is a canal from the gulf of California to refill the below sea level lake and no one wants to fit the bill. An earthquake on the San Andreas will do the same thing but it may not be in the human species lifetime. It is so full of man made pollutants that the birds will be better off abandoning it.


Sep 01, 2016 at 11:05 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


mogul wrote:
It is a man made water body whose time is coming to an end..the only thing that can save it is a canal from the gulf of California to refill the below sea level lake and no one wants to fit the bill. An earthquake on the San Andreas will do the same thing but it may not be in the human species lifetime. It is so full of man made pollutants that the birds will be better off abandoning it.


This is a common misconception. That the Salton Sea is "a man made water body" is only correct in the sense that present day water levels are the result of the effects of natural floods that overwhelmed man-made irrigation projects about a hundred years ago, combined with subsequent natural floods and the inputs from human manipulation of drainage projects since then. The lake basin is not "man made," nor is the existence of lakes in the basin. Geological and archaeological evidence shows that lake levels in the basin have been naturally rising and falling for thousands of years. Evidence indicates that the most recent natural high stand of water in the basin was in the 1600s, with undetermined fluctuations of lower water stands after that. (It is hard to determine the history of fluctuations of lower stands because the evidence is now under water.) Consequently, it would be more accurate to say that the presence of lakes in the basin are natural cyclic phenomena. However, in the past century humans have heavily perturbed both the cycles of water levels and the quality of the water in the basin. Viewed this way, humans did not make a lake where one never existed or would not exist. Just as humans are responsible for screwing up the ecosystem of the lake basin, they are responsible for fixing their mess.


Edited on Sep 03, 2016 at 03:53 PM · View previous versions



Sep 03, 2016 at 02:56 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Scrumhalf wrote:
Great shots! It's our own Aral Sea. We can look down our noses at the Uzbeks and Kazakhs but in some ways, we are not doing much better.


Thanks! And good point about the Aral Sea. I only posted some examples of birds, but just like the Aral Sea, humans are being adversely impacted, too. As the lake dries up, blowing dust--and the contaminants that Mogul mentions--contaminate the air of the adjacent Imperial Valley, one of the major agricultural communities of the U.S. As an example of the importance of this agriculture, it is the source of most of the winter produce consumed in the U.S.

Edited on Sep 03, 2016 at 03:56 PM · View previous versions



Sep 03, 2016 at 03:17 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


mikedec wrote:
Nice shots and interesting story.


reko wrote:
Nice shots and an interesting narrative too.


surfnron wrote:
Very nicely done and informative too ~ Ron


Thank you all. I'm glad you liked the shots and information.
---John




Sep 03, 2016 at 03:24 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


dorian wrote:
Very, very nice. I bird the SS regularly and you've really captured its feel with these wonderful shots.


Thank you, Dorian. I wish more people appreciated the nature of the place instead of stereotyping the Salton Sea as a blighted, stinking shore of rusted-out house trailers.... On the other hand, it sure is nice to do bird photography away from the crowds.
---John




Sep 03, 2016 at 03:31 PM
morris
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


Beautifle images go along with your documentary text

Morris



Sep 03, 2016 at 07:08 PM
mogul
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


jdc562 wrote:
This is a common misconception. That the Salton Sea is "a man made water body" is only correct in the sense that present day water levels are the result of the effects of natural floods that overwhelmed man-made irrigation projects about a hundred years ago, combined with subsequent natural floods and the inputs from human manipulation of drainage projects since then. The lake basin is not "man made," nor is the existence of lakes in the basin. Geological and archaeological evidence shows that lake levels in the basin have been naturally rising and falling for thousands of years. Evidence indicates
...Show more
If it wasn't for the "All America Canal" the Salton Sea would be as dry as Death Valley.



Sep 03, 2016 at 08:14 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


mogul wrote:
If it wasn't for the "All America Canal" the Salton Sea would be as dry as Death Valley.


Thanks for emphasizing the point that the long history of natural processes of determining lake levels in the basin have now been replaced by restrictive human controls. This clearly puts the responsibility of rational resource management of the Salton Sea on the agencies that control water flow and water quality in the basin.



Sep 04, 2016 at 01:06 PM
mogul
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


It would be easy to manage if Arizona and Mexico had not filed court cases and won water rights to the Colorado and Southern California would stop filling their pools and watering their lawns. The Salton Sea is dead. I grew up in San Diego and remember the 50's and 60's when fishing was great. No one ever tested them though, I am surprised we lived with all the pollutants in that water. I do remember huge die offs of birds and fish.


Sep 04, 2016 at 01:28 PM
dalite
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


jdc562 wrote:
Thanks! And good point about the Aral Sea. I only posted some examples of birds, but just like the Aral Sea, humans are being adversely impacted, too. As the lake dries up, blowing dust--and the contaminants that Mogul mentions--contaminate the air of the adjacent Imperial Valley, one of the major agricultural communities of the U.S. As an example of the importance of this agriculture, it is the source of most of the winter produce consumed in the U.S.

______
Have you seen photos of beached/stranded boats in the Aral Sea? I have. And it is happening in the Salton Sea. It is amazing that such a threatened body of water with its high concentration of salt and other toxic chemicals can house such a diverse population of wintering birds.

Well done, jdc.



Sep 05, 2016 at 04:31 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


dalite wrote:
______
Have you seen photos of beached/stranded boats in the Aral Sea? I have. And it is happening in the Salton Sea. It is amazing that such a threatened body of water with its high concentration of salt and other toxic chemicals can house such a diverse population of wintering birds.

Well done, jdc.


Thank you very much Dalite. You're right about the birds; it is amazing.
---John



Sep 05, 2016 at 07:51 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


morris wrote:
Beautifle images go along with your documentary text
Morris

Thank you very much Morris. It's a real compliment coming from such prolific poster of beautiful images yourself. I hope Hermine has been kind.
---John




Sep 05, 2016 at 07:59 PM
jdc562
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


mogul wrote:
It would be easy to manage if Arizona and Mexico had not filed court cases and won water rights to the Colorado and Southern California would stop filling their pools and watering their lawns. The Salton Sea is dead. I grew up in San Diego and remember the 50's and 60's when fishing was great. No one ever tested them though, I am surprised we lived with all the pollutants in that water. I do remember huge die offs of birds and fish.


You're right about the excessive diversions of Colorado River water for unsustainable landscaping. But, just to be clear, the big die offs of birds and fish were not caused by chemical pollutants. These mortality events have been caused by low oxygen levels in the water killing the fish, and the birds being killed by botulism when they ate the rotting fish and maggots. Other factors, such as toxic algal blooms, have also been implicated in the mass mortalities. Somehow you have to reconcile all the live birds in the photos I posted with your statement that "the Salton Sea is dead." Doomed if no remediation action is taken, maybe, but not dead yet. And certainly the Salton Sea is not beyond saving, nor is it not worth saving. The economic analyses have already proven that--it will cost much more to ignore it than to save it.



Sep 05, 2016 at 09:51 PM
birdied
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Salton Sea: beyond the blight


What a lovely set, so beautiful. Found your narrative most informative. It is amazing that the birds are able to use the area with all the issues that exist.

I hope a way is found to preserve this sea that serves as home and refuge for so many.


Birdie


“Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.”
― Albert Einstein




Sep 05, 2016 at 10:43 PM
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