Salton Sea - A Tale of Three Trees

In 2006 I spent a week photographing wildlife and scenery around the shores of the Salton Sea.  I was intrigued by three dead trees standing in water offshore on the south east side of the lake.  Every morning just as the sun would peek over the horizon the bare wood on the trees would glow golden while the water below had a beautiful turquoise color to it.  The effect would last for only a few minutes but it was magical.  At sunset herons, cormorants, and a single Peregrine Falcon would roost on the trees for the evening.  Three of the images - one sunrise and two sunsets - became best sellers for me at art fairs.

I returned to Salton Sea this morning anxious to see what condition I would find them - only to be disappointed. 

 

 

The middle tree had cracked at it's base but more importantly the water was gone.  No ducks swam around their bases and no birds would roost there at night.  The lake bed was covered with a white mixture of salts and toxic agricultural materials from the huge agricultural industry surrounding the lake.  The rapidly receding shoreline is leaving a huge amount of toxic dust that swirls behind you as you walk and is picked up by the slightest wind. Children in the area have an asthma rate that is three times the state average.

 

What is happening to the largest lake in California?  The lake was formed over 100 years ago due to a huge engineering mistake allowing the Colorado River to flood the basin.  The lake loses fresh water every day to evaporation.  With no outlet and very little input of fresh water the salt concentration is 50% higher than the Pacific Ocean.  The lake needs fresh water but San Diego and Los Angeles along with agricultural needs fight for every drop.  One now expects to see increasing algal blooms, fish kills, and bird deaths.  In 1996, 14,000 birds were killed.  10,000 of them were American White Pelicans which kept the one incinerator in the area overloaded for days.  In 1999, 7.6 million fish were washed up on the lake's shores in a single day.

 

Traveling around the lake gives one an apocalyptic feeling that gives some insight into human endeavors.  In  the 1950's the lake was called California's answer to the French Riviera.  A fishing and boating industry boomed around the lake.  Marinas and resorts were developed and suburbanites rushed to the area.  Two tropical storms in the 70's raised lake levels and put much of the new construction under water - literally and financially.  When the water receded the abandoned structures began to deteriorate.  Roofs fell in, walls crumbled, and all dreams and optimism disappeared.  The deteriorating communities have become a tourist curiosity in itself.  A few hardy souls still proudly maintain their properties in Bombay Beach surrounded by deserted and decaying properties.

 

What will happen to the Salton Sea?  Without fresh water the conditions will continue to deteriorate.  Nobody at this time knows where the fresh water will come from