Exposing the Desert III

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In October of 2019, Imperial County declared a local state of emergency at the Salton Sea due to the growing concern for air quality in the region (Wilson 2019). Locals and researchers attribute the many dust events and the hazy skyline to the exposed playa of the shrinking Salton Sea. Thanks to years of community activism and local officials pushing for action, California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state have become increasingly involved in plans to address the environmental crisis, pledging funds and creating new studies in the region. For the first time in a long time, there is on the ground movement from the state government at the Salton Sea. What isn’t clear is what this movement will lead to. What exactly does addressing the environmental issues at the Salton Sea entail? What does it mean to restore the Salton Sea? These questions are essential to understanding the necessary directionality and magnitude of change from individual, community, and governmental levels.

When it comes to the environmental health of the Salton Sea, policymakers at the regional, state, and federal levels play a key role in the solution. The question of what it means to restore the Salton Sea is a hotly debated question and has ushered in a variety of proposals and projects (Cantor and Knuth 2019). How restoration is defined and implemented will determine the health, economy, and development of culture of the many communities next to and near the lake in addition to the larger region of Southern California and Northern Mexico. Restoring the Salton Sea is more than a scientific problem, it is political, social, and cultural, affecting the lives of individuals and communities now and for years to come. While the intersection of political and corporate power has inarguably helped to create the environmental conditions that have led to a hazardous sea and the uneven burden of risks that communities face (Lawrence 2019), this point of intersection is also where the power for sustainable policy and development lies. In this area, there is a unique window of opportunity that makes way for projects to mitigate environmental health damages that inaction has brought about.

In this StoryMap we provide an overview of the discussions and plans currently in place that aim to improve the conditions at the Salton Sea. This is not meant to be a complete and comprehensive review of everything that has happened in relation to the Salton Sea, leaving room for further depth and understanding of the truths at hand. Emerging partnerships and innovative ideas are in constant development as the size of the problem and intertwining challenges warrant more attention than a single project can provide. Of late, proposals to bring in ocean water from the Sea of Cortez or the Pacific Ocean are being reviewed through a collaboration between the state and researchers with the University of California at Santa Cruz (Olalde 2021). Options like these have been on the table for a long time, but they are only now seen as a possible long-term solution, rather than active channels for on-the-ground change. Instead, of reviewing every proposal and policy for Salton Sea environmental health restoration, we hope to provide a guide to some of the more salient programs and proposals currently underway, as well as those in their beginning stages to organize knowledge, ongoing efforts, and potential areas in need of further clarity. Ultimately, this story is a document of growth, orienting anyone newly involved with the Salton Sea to historical efforts and events that shape the progression of knowledge, experience, and holistic well-being in concert with the healing of the sea

The Salton Sea, as an environmental resource, is governed and managed by agencies at the federal, state, and regional levels. Environmental restoration, the process of recovering damaged ecosystems, is made more difficult at the Salton Sea due to land ownership. The lake is split between two counties and there are three entities that own the majority of the land underneath the lake: Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management under the Department of the Interior, Imperial Irrigation District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Department of the Interior (DeBuys 1999). The state of California, who is responsible for the restoration does not own most of the land and so coordination and partnerships between landowners was and remains necessary before projects can start. 

The water that flows into the lake comes from the Colorado River. The Imperial Irrigation District, formed in 1911, and remains the majority holder of California’s share of the Colorado River. Due to several reasons (as explained in a previous storymap) the IID no longer sends farm runoff water to the lake. Instead, approximately 200,000 acre-feet per year of water that once flowed through the valley for agriculture now provides water for municipal consumption in Southern California which has significantly reduced the amount of water that prevents the lake from shrinking from evaporation.

This water-transfer is how the state of California became responsible for implementing restoration projects at the Salton Sea (Forsman 2014). While who was responsible for restoration appears to have been a shifting burden for decades, the QSA set up a series of agreements tying the state to finance and implement the environmental mitigation and restoration that was predicted to occur from reduced water inflows to the sea.

As a reminder, the QSA is the Quantification Settlement Agreement signed in 2003, is a collection of agreements to settle disputes over Colorado River water use within California. The water-transfer enabled California to reduce its reliance on the Colorado River by establishing water budgets for parties involved and authorizing long-term transfers of water from agricultural to municipal uses. It involves the State of California, the Imperial Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the San Diego County Water Authority. Under the QSA Joint Powers Authority, San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District and Imperial Irrigation District were to fund environmental projects to mitigate the impacts of the QSA for 15 years while the state was supposed to work on a long-term solution. However, set-backs from the 2008 recession and the state legislation denying approval for funds, the state’s management plans didn’t form until 2017. Since 2018, the state of California has been planning and implementing, in phases, air quality management and habitat construction projects.

How do official agencies imagine a sustainable future for the Salton Sea? The short-term answer is the Salton Sea Management Program. This program is meant to mitigate and control dust pollution and habitat destruction while a long-term solution to the Salton Sea shrinking is studied and debated. It does not include plans for pesticide mitigation or New River water quality. Here we review this project which is currently underway, involves several official agencies, and has been a point of discussion from communities to academics. 

The state’s Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) is a multi-phase restoration development with the goal to protect air quality and ecosystem values at the Salton Sea. It is in collaboration with state and federal agencies but is state run and managed. The California Natural Resources Agency is in charge of implementing the SSMP while the State Water Resources Control Board oversees. The SSMP was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 and as mentioned in the opening of this StoryMap Gov. Newsom has continued these plans for restoring the Salton Sea by pledging more money for restoration projects.

An annual report prepared by the California Natural Resources Agency includes the completed projects and milestones achieved, amount of acreage of completed projects, upcoming projects, the status of financial resources and permits, any anticipated departures from the annual milestones, and progress toward development of the long-term plan.

Phase 1 of the SSMP is a ten year plan to construct 30,000 acres of dust suppression and habitat projects. During the ten years, the SSMP team also plans to establish a long-term plan and strengthen partnerships with local leaders and communities (CNRA 2021). Phase I of the plan, though technically began in 2018, did not break ground on projects until early in 2021. The first three years were spent doing the preparation for construction such as getting permission from landowners.

The only project currently being constructed as of now is the Species Conservation Habitat Project, a $206.5 million project at the southern end of the Sea, which will build a network of avian and fish habitat features such as small floating islands (CNRA 2021). 2021 marked the beginning of construction of the infrastructure to convey water from the New River and the deeper parts of the Salton Sea to projects at the edges of the lake where they are planning to build wildlife habitats. They have also constructed temporary furrows that will slow down wind as it moves over the playa, a practice known as surface roughening. Future dust suppression sites are Clubhouse, Tule Wash, San Felipe Fan, Bombay Beach and Bombay Beach West and North Shore. To complete the 30,000 acres that the SSMP proposes, the SSMP is undergoing an environmental assessment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which is a mandate of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Coinciding with the state’s work on the Species Conservation Habitat Project, are new funds for a project located near the community of North Shore. In April 2021, the California Department of Water Resources and the Salton Sea Authority signed a $19.25 million grant funding agreement for a 160-acre restoration and dust control project called the North Lake Demonstration Project. It is one step in the larger plans of creating a horseshoe-shaped lake at the north end of the Sea (SSMP 2021). 

Here are the projects that are listed and described in the California Natural Resources Agency annual progress report on the Salton Sea Management Program (CNRA 2021).

Projects Completed: 

• New River East Project 
• New River West Project
• Bruchard Road Project 

Projects in Various Stages of Progress: 

• Species Conservation Habitat Project
• Dust Suppression Action Plan
• North Lake Demonstration Project 
• North Shore Harbor Revitalization Project 
• Desert Shores Channel Restoration Project
• Audubon Bombay Beach Wetland Restoration Project 

According to Dr. Schwabe,

“[the state] has put expedience ahead of some information that could help better understand whether this is the best investment to make or not and because they have a limited budget, they’re treating this as a mutually exclusive choice. Either...we invest in the science to better understand what the consequences of these actions are really…[or] whether it makes sense to continue throwing money into these investments...There are opportunities for the state to realize that these don’t have to [be] mutually exclusive choices...and that’s where I am at...and [with] a group of wonderful...[biologists], chemical scientists, geologists, looking at the science, what we don’t know, what we do know, and to make good policy and informed decisions.”

These are the two lenses in which Dr. Schwabe thinks about policy implications, one as a scientist and economist and the other what policy implies for the communities.

In the former, there needs to be an understanding of whether what they are doing is giving them the results they want and whether they are making good investments. Identifying the limitations of scientific knowledge at the Salton Sea can help to make better, more efficient plans, and potentially make better decisions on the equity impacts of what is happening. One of Dr. Schwabe’s research projects, in conjunction with faculty in the environmental sciences department at UCR, reveals the relationship between surface and groundwater at the Salton Sea. Bringing less water into the region has also meant less groundwater. Developing an accurate model of the hydrological system at the Salton Sea and linking that to an agricultural model will give an accurate picture of the costs and benefits to some of the plans and water-transfer schemes. According to Dr. Schwabe, all of this may have implications on the exposed playa and the depth of the lake which could then contribute to air quality impact and increasing salinity. 

In the latter lens, Dr. Schwabe considers the policy implications within local communities and how they see the action or the historic inaction that has been going on at the Salton Sea. This is evident in the criticism of the SSMP which points to the fact that it is a short-term fix, it is behind schedule, and doesn’t help people immediately who are currently at risk and in need of support. 

While there has been movement from the government, the communities who have been suffering from environmental hazards in their neighborhoods for years remain rightfully frustrated with the small, step-by-step process that government projects adhere to. Despite the public workshops, community members do not feel heard, telling officials in one meeting that the projects do not include the people affected, or have plans to address pesticides, which is a large community concern as agriculture has been operating in the area long before known hazardous pesticides were banned.

Acknowledgement of this frustration is often repeated by officials in discussions of Salton Sea management and restoration using phrases like, “But we do come from a history of not living up to the expectations of, the communities for sure, but I think California writ large as well” and “I think that the scale and the complicated nature of the problem were frankly paralyzing for the state government for a very long time” (AudubonCA 2021:7:40-7:49 and 16:40-16:50). Statements like these serve to mark state and government failure as a thing of the past, to convey hope in current efforts, and to reassure the community that they will be different. 

Mainstream conversations surrounding the Salton Sea region are focused on ecological restoration spearheaded by state agencies, but there is a limited focus on the Indigenous-led efforts in the Salton Basin. The ancient Lake Cahuilla, which predates the Salton Sea, is ethnographically documented to have been split between the Cahuilla, Kumeyaay, and Cocopa people (Laylander 2006). It is noted to be of especial importance to the Cahuilla, an ethnolinguistic Indigenous group whose original territory spanned the Inland and Southern California regions (Laylander 2006). Presently, the Salton Sea is home to the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians nation, which has played an active role in Salton Sea restoration efforts in the northern portion of the lake.  

Otoniel Quiroz, Natural Resources Manager and head of the Department of Natural Resources at Torres-Martinez, shed light on the tribal ties as well as ecological restoration efforts at the Salton Sea.

The Torres-Martinez is a checkerboard reservation, with Quiroz explaining that approximately every other square mile of land in the Salton Sea area belongs to the reservation, and everything else is regular county land. However, at least 40% of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians' Reservation is in the Salton Sea (Tortez 2020). "When the Salton Sea just most recently flooded in 1950… it covered almost half of the reservation," stated Quiroz. "As of today, about one-third of the reservation is still underneath the water."

The historic Lake Cahuilla and the Salton Sea are integral to Cahuilla cultural practices and heritage, making water restoration and preservation more than just a health and environmental issue. "The tribe has been existing in the [Salton Sea] area… and has a strong relationship with what was known as [the] ancient Lake Cahuilla," Quiroz stated. Quiroz also stated that the ancient Lake Cahuilla "had been a provider of water and food for the Cahuilla people," which helped sustain residents surrounding the area. Quiroz also mentioned how the Torres-Martinez has a very strong relationship with the bird species and the wildlife species that exist in that area. Hence, environmental policy and efforts to support human health in the region are not only quintessential to wellbeing and ecological sustainability, but to promoting and preserving cultural and historic landmarks.

Today, the relationship between the lake and the tribe has changed, with the focus being primarily on environmental mitigation, preservation, and conservation efforts. "We're very involved with the Salton Sea" stated Quiroz, with the Department of Natural Resources functioning under his leadership. According to Quiroz, the Department of Natural Resources at Torres-Martinez is responsible for implementing environmental programs; similar to small local governments, the team takes on multiple roles, ranging from solid waste management to water quality monitoring. "The tribe is really trying to make the most of the situation," Quiroz expressed. "They're very interested in trying to find a long-term solution for their nation."

The Salton Sea has a variety of stakeholders, being under the political jurisdiction of tribal, state, federal, and private entities alike. 

However, as Quiroz highlighted, "it's very difficult to navigate that political structure." Therefore, Quiroz noted that "with the tribe, we have jurisdiction over … our tribal lands and that … [is] where we tend to focus our energy and our efforts on." To address and establish policy that can benefit the tribe in the long term, the Department of Natural Resources has established regional, state, and federal partnerships. 

"We were working on the Torres-Martinez wetlands project," stated Quiroz. This project, in collaboration with the California Natural Resource Agency, was a pilot project that sought to create acres of wetland habitat on Torres-Martinez land using solar power to create a series of ponds (“Torres Martinez Wetlands” 2012). The project originally started about 11 years ago and according to Quiroz, was originally intended to redirect stormwater from the whitewater channel into a series of wetlands and sediment. This was to treat the water and then deposit that water back into the Salton Sea. However, as the Salton Sea landscape continues to drastically change, the Salton Sea no longer sits at the edge of the original wetlands project.

"In the past few years, the first phase of that project was to really try to repurpose the wetlands," stated Quiroz. "The idea behind the wetlands is to … have about 60 acres of wetland habitat through a series of seven one-acre cells and four ponds," he continued. These efforts focus on restoring deep water habitat, with the goal to produce fish and provide the deep-water habitat for birds such as the white pelican. This would also allow for them to have a conserved habitat available for them during their migration. 

Quiroz expanded upon the project, stating that the water flooding would help create an eco-tourist attraction, a recreational era, and a sustainable food source for tribal members in case of emergencies. "We're trying to create a sustainable project … and create an independent sovereign project for the tribe that it can manage and enjoy for generations to come." Quiroz also mentioned that a lot of Cahuilla culture "is intertwined with the natural environment, and so that's why a project like our wetland project speaks so loudly" to the tribe. "Looking to the future, we are in communication with different state agencies about projects happening on the north end just because that's where our tribal lands reside," Quiroz expressed. "We've been in talks about different … dust mitigation efforts [and] habitat conservation efforts … that's kind of where we're heading into in the next few years."

When discussing projects that could support the longevity and health of the Torres-Martinez land, water air, and people, Quiroz stated that the Torres-Martinez people would benefit "from projects that can create dust suppression, but at the same time conserve habitat and create a cleaner, more diverse environment for the entire region's sustainably." Quiroz also mentioned that addressing the Salton Sea ecological and health issues required efforts from the various stakeholders in the region.

"This is a collaborative effort, and if we have any kind of division within the group of stakeholders, I don't see us getting very far," Quiroz stated.

With regard to policy changes or efforts that could benefit the Salton Sea, Quiroz noted the importance of federal support and involvement. "I think getting federal involvement is very, very important," he stated. "Not only is tribal land federal trust land, but there is also a federal trust responsibility from the federal government to the tribe." Quiroz continued, stating that "I think there's a very strong case to be made that  the federal government does have a responsibility to be involved in what's going on in the Salton Sea." 

Over the past few years, there have been efforts on a federal level to secure funding and resources to strengthen efforts in the Salton Sea. In 2020, Congress members Raul Ruiz (CA-36) and Juan Vargas (CA-51) introduced a bill to secure funding toward environmental protection and public health in the Salton Sea. According to congressional records, the most recent action surrounding this bill occurred on November 18, 2020, where it was referred "to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned." (Ruiz 2020).

More recently, Congress member Raul Ruiz introduced legislation on June 15, 2021, to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to contribute more actively and meaningfully to public health and environmental projects at the Salton Sea. (“Ruiz Announces New Legislation to Expand Federal Authority at the Salton Sea” 2021) However, there are more efforts needed to address the environmental and health issues throughout the region.

"We want to make sure that our voices are heard along with everyone else when it comes to the Salton Sea… the tribe has been working on the Salton Sea since the beginning of these conversations and it's not going to go anywhere," Quiroz stated. "We're here for the long haul. We want to make sure that we see a long-term solution so that our kids and our grandkids and great-grandkids all benefit from what we did today." - Otoniel Quiroz

The work done by Torres Martinez seeks to support the tribe and the natural environment. The water, land, and air issues at the Salton Sea are multifaceted as they impact health, sociocultural landscapes, and ecology that are of utmost importance to the Indigenous nations in the area. It is therefore important to recognize and continue to highlight that efforts to restore and preserve the Salton Sea are also efforts to conserve historic and cultural landmarks highly esteemed by the Cahuilla people. Furthermore, the Torres-Martinez reservation is a permanent part of the Salton Sea, and ecological restoration efforts will impact the Cahuilla people for generations to come. There is a dire need for federal funds and agencies to play an active role and partner with tribal, regional, and state entities to address the ecological and health crisis facing the residents of the Salton Sea region.

In writing this Salton Sea StoryMap series, we have heard one phrase over and over, “What we do at the Salton Sea can be a model for what we do elsewhere.” In California and in the Southwest, drying lakes are certainly not unheard of, and will continue to be a problem for future generations. The Salton Sea has been tossed aside as an unloved lake for years by industry and by the state of California. With unity however, comes hope. Joint pressure by communities, activists, environmentalists, and scientists have begun to create the shift in policy and practice necessary for bringing about proper nurture for the sea.

Officials argue that in the early 2000s, there was a different water landscape that led to prioritizing urban water needs over rural. Back then, environmentalists and scientists from San Diego County wrote a declaration that explained the many options available to San Diego County to meet its water needs without threatening the ecosystem and environmental quality of Imperial and Coachella valleys (San Diegans for the Salton Sea 2002). 

It may be that the QSA water transfer was the easiest solution at the time to California’s water problems, as it required no infrastructure, public, or industrial behavior changes. Furthermore, there was far less pressure to integrate the principals of sustainability and social justice into policy. Nevertheless, the past occurred as it did, and we are left with a complex, multidimensional conflict that roots deeply into the history of power and oppression. This issue is not an easy fix by any means, and merits a widened scope guided by patience, compassion, and the desire to heal. These efforts stand on the shoulders of indigenous and migrant communities already struggling for justice in cultural recognition, in educational and job opportunities, and community infrastructure.  These tasks are nowhere near over.

As money continues to flows into the sea in the form of scientific projects and research, there is a responsibility for researchers in the region to monitor the restoration of not only the sea itself, but also the communities in symbiosis with it in order to build new infrastructure and housing that protects residents from environmental hazards, and lays new ground-work for community safety and well-being in the future. Additionally, those of us who are residents of Southern California, who receive a majority of our water from distant sources, can keep ourselves and our municipalities accountable to these issues by seeking out ways to conserve water, prevent contamination, and advocate for population growth and development in our region to be done at a sustainable rate.

As mentioned in the beginning of this story and alluding to StoryMap 1, the intersection of state and corporate policies throughout the history of the Salton Sea created the environmental hazards that are unequally experienced today. While the projects discussed in this story represent a step towards mitigating some of the more salient problems, addressing the disparities in health and power may require more evaluation that aims to specifically reduce the injustices that are accumulated throughout the centuries. 

Will the Salton Sea prove that we can fix what has been broken? 

We would like to especially thank and acknowledge Otoniel Quiroz, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, and Dr. Kurt Schwabe at the UC Riverside School of Public Policy for their participation in this StoryMap.