High Sierra Topix

Good luck convincing the 2-3 major landowners there to do any thing different than what they've done for the last 100 years. They've managed to convince smaller farmers to flood their fields in the basin this year, and left their land dry - pumping water to state owned lands elsewhere.

Change the date on your link to sentinel to the 27th to see even more of a difference in flooded areas!

I doubt there would be enough rainfall in the future to sustain Tulare Lake. It may be a mucky swamp most of the time. I do not know the history of Tulare Lake, but sometimes we romanticize the past. For one thing, the climate back then was wetter than normal. And what if with future climate it would be a bunch of mosquitoes and other undesirable things most of the time? As much as we romanticize about Yosemite Valley before those awful "people" drained it, I suspect it was a miserable place, unfit for people. I would wait on judging the worth of a reborn Tulare Lake until I had some more information on its past history. It may sound neat, but even if you eliminate the "profiteering" of landowners, I wonder if there would be unintended consequences. So I am neither pro nor con because I do not think we have really thought it out in detail.

Sorry I missed the link to the Wikipidia information. Still--If you did a detailed environmental impact study it likely would be infeasible. There is no way all the flood control is going to be knocked down to replicate historical conditions. I still think there are a lot of problems and unintended consequences and it is mostly a romantic pipe dream. You really cannot compare "livability" with native people who were migratory to the millions there now. I do think there is some middle-ground ideas that would be interesting to look at.

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:41 pm You really cannot compare "livability" with native people who were migratory to the millions there now. I do think there is some middle-ground ideas that would be interesting to look at.

I agree with a lot of this, and to me the middle ground would be more recharge basins to act as "reservoirs" in the valley. My pipe dream is a constant preserve that runs the entire length or most of the length of the valley that acts as recharge basins, lakes, wetlands, etc. with trails going through it so we can backpack in the valley in the winter months. This would also allow for more Tule Elk and waterfowl to live in the valley.

I grew up in Bakersfield and there won't be enough rainfall to sustain Tulare lake like WD said. We are very lucky that we got this rain this year to get out of the drought, but that's the way California always is. 2-4 years of drought then recorded rainfall the next year. Its a cycle that repeats itself too often. I wish it was different but its not. Hopefully this record rainfall will help with the groundwater too. Good news, Lake Isabella a couple months ago was 20,000 acre feet(less than 10 percent full) and now its around 350,000 acre ft.(60-65 percent full) Its remarkable.

Texan

According to the accounts that I have read from pre-1900, it was a marshy mosquito farm most of the year. Maybe we should remove all dams and reduce rivers to a trickle in the summer? And, those dust storms from the 1800's, those would be sooo sweeeet! Bring back measels, polio, and small pox! The past was the best!

Ecology is a never ending dynamic. Trying to hit an ecological balance using standard approaches is like hunting a target that zips to and fro, left and right. Get the vector correct and it changes distance. Get the range dialed, and it veers left. And when the lead is just right, it changes speed.

There is a concept of diverting water from full reservoirs, by pumping it directly into the aquifers directly below these lakes. Makes sense, as that is the resource that is being most significantly depleted under current practices. It isn't cheap, and there may be issues with contaminating deep water with surface organisms and bacteria. I am surprised this concept isn't getting more attention.

Ed

Another aspect of this that some people may not have taken into consideration - the lakebed probably only had 200-500 years of existence left, even with plenty of water flowing into it. Silt and sediments naturally filled the basin over time, reducing the size of the lakes in the basin and forcing water into the San Joaquin more and more often.

The LA Times published an article today stating that LA sewage sludge is transported daily to a fertilizer processing facility located within the lake footprint. The concern is toxic byproducts could leach into the aquifer if the lake is allowed to reestablish itself.