Environment

Salton Sea

by Britphoto | March 23, 2009 at 05:21 pm

480 views | 38 Recommendations | 7 comments

In 1950, it was known as the “Salton Riviera”. The resilient residents who still make this area their home believe that it will rise again. The Salton Sea is a unique man-made body of seawater 60 miles outside of Palm Springs – 35 miles in length and 15 miles wide. In the 50’s and 60’s, the area showed tremendous promise and thousands of tourists visited the area each year. That was until 1976 when the banks overflowed and the yacht club and most of the waterfront businesses and home were flooded by storms and excessive run-off from the surrounding Imperial Valley farms.

So what… you ask? The ungodly smell, the unsavory characters in the trailer parks, the ’06 expiration date on the coffeemate at the Imperial market. Who cares and why save it? It needs to be saved for several reasons. First, it is one of the last California wetlands in existence. Over 60 species of birds call this area home. Even more disturbing than that, every summer, thousands of Tilapia literally die-out due to lack of oxygen and litter the beaches each year. Birds are dying of botulism by the hundreds, with wildlife personnel just barely keeping ahead of the devastation. Second, If the sea dies, the dry riverbed will become a health hazard that could threaten the entire Imperial Valley farming community and neighboring Palm Springs. Thirdly, it is a place of somewhat ethereal beauty and serenity. As I sat on the bank of the North Shore, on the sand made of mollusks, next to a decaying shed, I was lulled into a sense of beauty and peace that I seldom find this close to Los Angeles. Sonny Bono was a huge champion of this area, his family dedicating a Bird Refuge area in his name. He too, believed this area could be restored to its former glory. It can - it should, we can not sit by and let another natural resource disappear from California. Look it up people, go see it for yourself.

Story By Suzanne Polverino

Photos By Karl Polverino

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Paschen

at 18:51 on March 23rd, 2009

Like a swarm of locus, humanity hops from one lush field to the next until none are left and all locus just dry out in the sun and join the sand as dust leaving a desert behind them.

Not like bees that would preserve their environment and contribute to it we humans are worth then a locus swarm.

Maireid Sullivan

at 20:48 on March 23rd, 2009

Magnificent photography! Since you are a photographer, did you take them?

I have visited that area too. ...but that was before we got our film camera.

We are seeing growing acidity destroying lakes here in Australia.

Britphoto

at 20:50 on March 23rd, 2009

Thanks !!

Yes I take the shots and my wife writes the story

sara star

at 06:16 on March 24th, 2009

The creation of the Salton Sea of today started in 1905, when heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell and breach an Imperial Valley dike. It took nearly two years to control the Colorado River’s flow into the formerly dry Salton Sink and stop the flooding. As the basin filled, the town of Salton, a Southern Pacific Railroad siding and Torres-Martinez Indian land were submerged. The sudden influx of water and the lack of any drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea.

Britphoto

at 15:22 on March 24th, 2009

Moderate Quake Strikes Salton Sea

Another moderate earthquake struck today near the San Andreas fault in Imperial County, seismologists said.

The magnitude 4.8 quake hit about 4:55 a.m. two miles south of Bombay Beach on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website. The quake had occurred at a depth of 3.5 miles. Source: LA Times