The Salton Sea and its Significance to Birds
The Salton Sea is a massive man-made lake in the Imperial Valley, which has also proved to be a massive man-made problem that scientists and activists have yet to resolve. One side of the argument is to leave the Sea alone and let it dry up. The other side of the argument believes that no matter the monetary cost, we must address the problems that have occurred in or around the Sea that have caused a decline in health of the water, which in turn has caused a decline in the health of the many animals that now rely on the Salton Sea as a habitat, and if left to dry up will end up causing a decline in health for some residents of Southern California. In this paper I will address why I believe that no matter the cost, action must be taken to prevent the Sea from failing more than it already has.
“For millennia, the Colorado River filled and emptied lakes that predate the current Salton Sea.” (Zap, 2012). It was a seasonal lake that when floods would occur it would fill, and in the heat of the desert would dry up. In 1853 a Biologist named William Phipps Blake was in California’s Colorado Desert, he did some analysis of the soil in part of the Imperial Valley and determined that the soil was rich in minerals, and made the assertion that if water could be supplied permanently to the Imperial Valley there was a possibility for good agricultural production in the area. Because of his vision, in 1904 an irrigation canal was cut in the nearby Colorado River. Unfortunately, a levee broke in 1905 and for the next 18 months almost the entire contents of the Colorado River spilled into the Salton Sink forming a lake that is 35 miles long and 15 miles wide in the middle of the California desert (Payne, 2006). The lake was born from a disaster, but as time has gone on fish were introduced and salinity levels rose, the Sea has become a hotspot for migrating birds. After the levee was repaired, there were no natural inlets or outlets for the Salton Sea. Agricultural fields which are sustained by the same water that filled the Sea, have sustained the sea with the runoff. Without the runoff from the fields, the sea would have evaporated in the hot desert sun, but with the agricultural runoff, the sea has sustained its size. “The water flowing into the sea carries 5.2 million tons of salt a year, enough to fill a mile-long freight train every day. As a result, the sea is already 25 percent more saline than the Pacific Ocean and getting saltier every year.” (Cohn, 2000). This accidental lake that was not planned for or thought out by professionals is no longer able to provide the stability that a lake with natural inlets and outlets would. It has not been engineered to simulate a natural lake, and now it is posing health threats to aquatic, avian, and human life alike.
The Salton Sea provides a massive wetland for migrating birds. Wetlands play a vital role in the health and fitness of birds. They nest in the wetlands, some birds need a lot of space in order to nest and eat in a way that is beneficial to their species. That is why looking at the loss of wetland along these birds migration route is necessary when discussing the Salton Sea. It is estimated that in the 1600’s, there were 221 million acres of wetlands in the lower 48 United States (Lundmark, 2001). As the early settlers came to America they regarded swamps and wetlands as carriers of disease and a hindrance of development. People started draining swamps and wetlands in order to use the areas for agricultural land. In the 1849 Congress passed the Swamp Land Act which allowed for all swamps and wetlands in Louisiana to be dredged and drained. In 1850 the Act was made applicable to 12 more states (Watts, 2007). As of 2001, only 105 million acres of wetland remained (Lundmark, 2001). Two of the states most affected by wetland loss are California and Florida. California alone has lost 91% of its wetlands. (ActionBioscience). With this dramatic loss of wetlands for birds to nest, eat, and recover in, the Salton Sea has become a place where millions of birds stop every year on their long migration along the Pacific Flyaway, which is one of four major migration routes that birds travel through as they migrate from North to South America and back again. With the immense loss of suitable habitat for these birds, the Salton Sea has become a very important and even vital place for birds.
The importance of the Salton Sea is clear; it is one of few remaining suitable places for migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway to stop. Another aspect of importance is the state of the Salton Sea itself. Because of its unnatural beginnings, the lake has no inlets or outlets to flush out salts or take in fresh water. This means that the millions of tons of salts a day it receives from agricultural runoff remains in the lake. The Salton Sea has proven to be a disaster when it comes to the health of the fish, and the birds that eat them. The agricultural runoff that flows into the lake carries large amounts of pesticides and salts, and the lake has limited oxygen due to it being mostly stagnant. The health implications of this situation came to a head in 1996 when 15,000 birds were stricken with type C botulism at the Salton Sea. It was discovered that the tilapia in the lake, which the birds were eating, making the birds sick. Tilapia has never been the culprit of passing the type C Botulism toxins to birds until this time (Meteyer, 2005). Botulism occurred because it is an unnatural place for water to be, and it is lacking the fundamental inlets and outlets of a healthy lake.
The debate over the Salton Sea has been ongoing for some 40 years. Some have suggested diverting the agricultural runoff to San Diego, and letting the lake dry up. In order to get the lake healthy again, pipelines need to be constructed either to Mexico, or to San Diego to bring lower salinity water into the lake. This would start a multi-billion dollar project. Some people believe that because the state of California is in one of the greatest recessions since the great depression, that fixing the problems are too costly and shouldn’t be done.
The other side of the argument is to use whatever means necessary to build pipelines from San Diego to bring in lower level salinity water into the Salton Sea. This would also give the sea a much needed flushing mechanism (Cohn, 2000). Other ideas of how to reduce salinity are desalination plants, and sprinkler systems. There is another obstacle to these ideas because there are proposals that will go into effect in 2017 which will take the water which is now flowing into the sea, and divert it to San Diego to be treated as waste water there. This threatens the water levels of the sea. If the lake were to dry up, huge amounts of sediment, up to a mile deep, would start blowing across the Coachella valley in huge dust storms, the sediment is full of selenium and salts so this dust storm has the potential to be toxic. (Zap, 2012).
The history of the sea is as complex as the answer to what should be done now. I care deeply about the ecological problems we have already created for the birds in the Pacific Flyway, as well as all wildlife that has to adapt to what humanity has done to their habitats. I understand the importance of leaving one of the only remaining wetlands large enough to support the millions of birds who use it daily intact. There is no way that allowing the Salton Sea to dry up and create a toxic dustbowl, which could potentially do harm to people and all other living things in Southern California, is a better option. Finances may be scarce, but the financial implications of relocating Palm Springs and dealing with the toxic clean-up are just as unfathomable. Leaving the birds high and dry will have other ecological implications for our earth. It will lend to the loss of vital habitat for hundreds of species of birds, many of which will end up in endangered status. Luckily, during the time I have been writing this paper, the United States Federal Government has approved a plan which, although still vague, lays out a plan for a 15 year restoration process. This is good for everyone. The more the Salton Sea is discussed and brought to the attention of those who can provide help, the less likely it is that real restoration for this vital and productive habitat will be put on the back-burner.
References
Cohn, J. 2000. “Saving the Salton Sea.” BioScience, 50.4: 295-301.
“Loss of Wetlands: How Are Bird Communities Affected?” Actionbioscience. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
Lundmark, C. 2001. Keeping track of wetland restoration. Bioscience, 51(8): 696.
Meteyer, C. 2005. The impact of disease in the american white pelican in north america. Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology, 28(sp1): 87-94.
Payne, W. 2006. The salton sea: A selective annotated bibliography. Reference Services Review, 34(2), 316-321. Cohn, J. P. (2000). Saving the salton sea. Bioscience, 50(4): 295-301.
Watts, Raymond D. 2007. “Roadless Space of the Conterminous United States.”Science 316.5825: 736-38. Web.
Zap, Claudine. 2012. “Salton Sea: Is It Drying Up?” Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
