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Sustaining the Salton Sea is critical for millions of migratory birds and the health of 650,000 regional residents.
Frank Ruiz, Director of Salton Sea Programs with Audubon California, looks out at the Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is one of the most important places for birds in North America, but is at risk of losing its ecological value. As the Sea changes, we face unclear impacts on a vital part of the Pacific Flyway and the growing possibility of a toxic dust bowl that will threaten public health for more than a million Californians.
As part of the Colorado River Delta, the sea filled and dried for thousands of years prior to its current, 35-mile-long incarnation, which came into existence as the result of a massive flood of the Colorado River in 1905. The 330-square-mile Sea has partially replaced wetland habitat lost to agricultural and urban conversion in the Colorado River Delta, California’s coast, and the San Joaquin Valley.
The Sea is a globally significant Important Bird Area (IBA). For the past century, the Sea has served as a major nesting, wintering, and stopover site for millions of birds of approximately 400 species. Until recent years, tiny Eared Grebes wintered by the thousands in rafts far out on its surface. American White Pelicans roosted on mudflats and fished for tilapia in its shallows. Migratory shorebirds stopped to migrate and feed along the Sea’s edge. Today’s avifauna is shifting – the Sea is losing the fish-eating birds such as pelicans and cormorants because fish populations are disappearing. Eared Grebes, who have fed on pile worms, are also declining rapidly, from millions to several thousand. Shorebirds, however, that feast on invertebrates along the shore edges, as well as shallow feeding ducks such as Northern Shoveler and Ruddy Duck, are still wintering at, or passing along the Sea, in massive numbers.
Recently, its water level dropped to the point that colonial seabirds began abandoning nesting sites en masse in 2013, and shallow, marshy habitat areas at the sea’s edge have begun to rapidly vanish, particularly at the south end. In 2017, inputs of Colorado River water were transferred from local agricultural uses to urban uses on the coast. As less water flowed into the Sea, it shrunk considerably, becoming more saline and inhospitable to birds, fish, and insects.
We must take immediate action at the Salton Sea to protect human health and establish viable habitat for millions of migratory birds.
Conservation investments at the Salton Sea must embrace a holistic approach, considering the well-being of all waterbirds, including shorebirds.
Conducting community science during a glorious spring migration for the Intermountain West Shorebird Survey
Our latest study shows how biofilm may be providing the biofuel that migratory shorebirds need
Discover the data and resources about the habitats and changes happening at the Salton Sea from across the network.
Cómo un humedal emergente en la Laguna Salton Sea ofrece nuevas esperanzas para las aves migratorias y las comunidades locales.
Audubon California has begun the planning phase for the restoration and enhancement of the newly emerging Bombay Beach Wetland, located by the town of Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea.
Our new, downloadable pocket field guide features some birds of the Coachella Valley that are culturally significant to the Cahuilla people of the Torres-Martinez Band.
Estamos estrenando nuestra nueva, descargable guía de campo de algunas aves del Valle de Coachella, las cuales son culturalmente importante para los Cahuilla.
More than 400 species of birds come to the Salton Sea in California.
Local television station KMIR today launched the first in a series of pieces about the Salton Sea. Today's piece is about the history of the Sea. Learn more about our efforts to find a solution at the Salton Sea here.
Clearly, the Desert Sun has had it with the state's inability to get projects moving at the Salton Sea:
This harkens to the years of “one more study is needed” that we’d wearily grown accustomed to as we witnessed the sea’s long decline, which shifted into overdrive with the end of Colorado River water inflows at the close of 2017.
Still, it is shocking to hear this type of refrain so shortly after the state finally stepped up with its plan to fulfill its commitment to sea restoration under the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement that has shifted the water that had been replenishing the sea to thirsty urban customers.
Get to work, folks. Promises were made and the state cannot let the now more-rapidly receding sea spiral into an ecological and environmental disaster which will have effects far beyond its own shores.
Audubon Calfornia's Frank Ruiz talks about the need for the everyone to pull together to avert an ecological crisis at the Salton Sea -- to protect people and birds at the Salton Sea. Thanks to the Walton Family Foundation for putting this video together. Learn more about our work at the Salton Sea.
The California Water Resources Control Board yesterday heard a presentation from state officials on their progress toward meeting their goals for habitat restoration and dust control at the Salton Sea. According to an agreement completed late last year, the state must complete work on 500 acres by the end of the year, but there is little indication that it will reach even that modest goal.
Micheal Lynes, Audubon California's policy director, had this to say after the hearing:
"The deterioration of the Salton Sea continues, and the rate of progress on the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) is not keeping up with the rapidly changing conditions. We encourage the State Water Resources Control board to work closely with state officials to ensure that upcoming deadlines are met– including constructing 500 acres’ worth of projects at the sea by the end of 2018.”
Michael Cohen, senior associate at the Pacific Institute, added:
"While the state has taken some steps towards implementing the Salton Sea Management Program, the rate of the progress is not nearly enough to keep up with the sea's decline. It is imperative that the State Water Resources Control Board hold the state to its commitment to build habitat and dust control projects at the Salton Sea, this year.”
Terrific op-ed in Water Deeply from Allison Harvey Turner Allison Harvey Turner, of the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, and Barry Gold, of the Walton Family Foundation, about the State of California's recent progress addressing the environmental and public health crises at the Salton Sea:
"At the Salton Sea, the state has the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to supporting human health, a resilient environment, a strong economy and a sustainable water strategy for Southern California. Now, promising plans on paper must turn into critical progress on the ground. We are closer than ever to solving the Salton Sea crisis. This is the time for diligence and dedication to make it happen."
Earlier this month, Audubon California led a group of chapter leaders to offer a firsthand look at the situation at the Salton Sea. We also co-hosted a community event to raise awareness about the developing environmental and public health crises.
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