California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
A $14 million grant of voter-approved bond funds from the state Wildlife Conservation Board to the California Department of Water Resources will be used to aid in the construction of some 640 acres of wetland habitat at the Salton Sea. The habitat is designed to sustain tilapia for the plethora of fish-eating birds that annually flock to the Salton Sea and the Pacific Flyway. The grant was announced this week by California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird.
“This new grant will help us build habitat that protects the bird populations at the Salton Sea,” said Laird. “We’re pushing forward with the projects in our 10-year plan to protect wildlife and air quality as water flows to the sea decrease in coming years.”
The new project targets boosting the habitat for various bird species, including cormorants and pelicans, about seven miles northwest of the city of Westmorland at the junction of New River and the Salton Sea. Tilapia is the dominant fish species in the hyper-saline Salton Sea and a major food source for the migratory birds.
The Salton Sea, created in the early years of the 20th century due to Colorado River flooding, is now facing significant water loss after 2017 when water transfers dwindle due to agreements reached years ago. As inflows dwindle the lakebed will become further exposed, the sea will become even more salty and air quality in the Imperial and Coachella valleys will continue to worsen. Already, children in the Imperial Valley have the highest asthma rates in the state. Predictions are that the lake could become too salty to support even the tilapia resulting in even higher fish die-offs than have already been experienced.
A series of goals and funds are now underway to help mitigate the otherwise projected Salton Sea crisis. In 2013, the state water board allocated $3 million in bond funds to the Imperial Irrigation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Salton Sea authority for habitat restoration and air quality projects.
The Salton Sea Task Force was created by California Governor Jerry Brown in May 2015 and he directed the multiple agencies invested in the Salton Sea to develop a comprehensive management plan to meet a short-term goal of 9,000 to 12,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects for the Sea. A medium-term goal was also set to construct between 18,000 and 25,000 additional acres for habitat and dust suppression projects. Additionally, the state of California has committed more than $80 million in voter-approved bond funds to restore habitat and suppress dust at the lake in the near term.
The $14 million grant awarded by the Wildlife Conservation Board follows a $1.85 million grant issued in June by the Board to the Imperial Irrigation District to restore approximately 600 acres of shallow, brackish water habitat in the Red Hill Bay area of the Salton Sea. That project is a joint effort by the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, Imperial Irrigation District and private geothermal developers to create habitat and address a highly emissive area of exposed dry lakebed.
