Still

The Salton Sea, North Shore, CA..........Part of an article written by Ian James in The Desert Sun newspaper and website says: After years of... more

by Laurie Search

Title

Still

Artist

Laurie Search

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

The Salton Sea, North Shore, CA..........Part of an article written by Ian James in The Desert Sun newspaper and website says: After years of delays, California’s plans for the shrinking Salton Sea are finally starting to take shape...........A $383 million plan released by the state’s Natural Resources Agency on Thursday lays out a schedule for building thousands of acres of ponds and wetlands that will cover up stretches of dusty lakebed and create habitat for birds as the lake recedes..........The state’s blueprint focuses on constructing a patchwork of ponds that will spread out along the lake’s north and south shores during the next 10 years. Much of the funding has yet to be approved by the Legislature, and the construction projects will lag behind the pace of the sea’s decline, covering up only a portion of the vast expanses of lakebed that will be left dry and exposed to the desert winds..........But state officials say the plan represents a critical initial step in a long-term process of intervening to ameliorate a costly crisis at California’s largest lake. The immediate goals are to preserve a vital oasis for migratory birds and combat windblown dust in an area already struggling with some of the state’s highest asthma rates...........Time is of the essence because at the end of this year, the flows of water into the Salton Sea will decrease under a water transfer deal and the lake’s level will begin to decline more rapidly..........“This plan is a path forward to address air quality and habitat issues at the Salton Sea for the first time,” said Bruce Wilcox, the state’s assistant secretary for Salton Sea policy. “It’s a very important milestone.”

Uploaded

June 26th, 2017