[ad_1]
Lake Tulare was drained by farmers more than a century ago and rarely reappeared when floods reclaimed farmland in beds in the ancient lakes of the San Joaquin Valley.
Now, a coalition of tribal leaders, community activists and environmental advocates has begun efforts to restore the lake. They have been discussing a proposal to bring back parts of its former vast ocean by building a wetland-rimmed reservoir on the west side of the valley, in front of Interstate 5.
“Water brings life,” said Robert Jeff, vice-president of the Santa Rosa Ranchelia Tachi Yokuto Tribe. “To bring that water back to the land will benefit everyone and everyone.”
Jeff and other concept proponents, including leaders of the river nonprofit Friends, say that reserving space for lake repairs will provide outlets to acquire flooding if necessary, helping to protect lowland towns and farms. They say that by restoring the lake and part of its marshes, it will revive habitats essential to wildlife, bringing new parks where people can fish, watch migratory birds and walk along the edge of the water.
Robert Jeff, vice-president of the Santa Rosa Lanchelia Tachiyokout tribe, stands on the edge of Lake Tulare when he reappears during the 2023 flood.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
An engineering proposal recently submitted to state authorities calls for the creation of a levee that would acquire nearly 24,000 acres of farmland near Kettleman City and embankments that would contain new lakes and wetlands.
However, turning the proposal into a viable plan requires addressing a variety of challenges, including securing funds, acquiring property from landowners, and obtaining water that flows consistently through the lake.
Farmland set aside for the project includes 11,640 acres owned by Sandridge Partners, owned by a company managed by the family of Silicon Valley businessman John Vidovitch, and 1,100 acres owned by agriculture giant JG Boswell, the largest landowner in the area. The third land, totaling 11,240 acres, is owned by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, and uses fields to spread compost and grow crops.
Plan proponents have begun to approach landowners and share this idea, but so far none of them have publicly supported the concept. Vidovich and JG Boswell Co. did not respond to requests for comment.
Preliminary cost estimates can cost around $1 billion if the purchase of land, travelling the globe, installing pump stations and projects are built as currently proposed. Supporters say one option is to tap on the state’s proposal 1 bond fund. It is used for projects such as water storage, rainwater capture and ecosystem repair. State officials have selected projects through a strict process, with some funds not yet allocated.
For the Tachi Yokot Tribe, the idea of bringing back a lake they call Pa’ashi retains cultural and spiritual importance.
The lake was once the largest body of freshwater to the west of the Mississippi River. It sustained the birds, beavers, tulle elk, and the tribes of Yokt, who created homes along the lake shores and rivers.
It ended when settlers drove the natives from their land, and farmers suffocated the river in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Since then, Dry Lake has been revived occasionally during California’s wettest years. In 2023, surge in flooding thousands of acres of farmland flooded. The rising water caused chaos scrambling, reduced damage, levees were grown and strengthened to protect the city of Corcoran.
Robert Jeff will use sage to cleanse the area in preparation for the 2023 ceremony to celebrate Tulea Lake’s reappearance.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
At the time, members of the Tachi Yokut tribe grew to about the size of Lake Tahoe, held rituals on the coast, and celebrated the return of their ancestor lakes, offering prayers. However, the lake quickly retreated and agriculture resumed in beds in arid lakes.
Jeff said he is seeing a historic opportunity for his tribe to work with others in the San Joaquin Valley to bring back parts of the Paasi forever.
“This water needs to be on land,” Jeff said. “It makes me feel good to see a lot of people gather together because they’re on the same page.”
He spoke at the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoor at a workshop in June. There, more than 20 supporters gathered in the meeting room to discuss ideas for restoring the lake.
The group heard a presentation to Wade Crowfoot, a California Natural Resources Secretary, detailing the recently submitted engineering proposal. The plan, created by Fresno-born civil engineer John Ennis, calls for a new lake that is larger but deeper than the one that formed during the 2023 flood.
After studying maps and geographical data, Ennis determined the area of Kings County, where floods could be pumped into reservoirs up to 30-40 feet deep.
By catching excess water, the next extreme flooding would protect communities like Corcoran, Alpaux and Aresworth, he said.
John Ennis stands on the proposed lake grounds near the city of Kettleman.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
“First and foremost about this project, flood protection,” Ennis said in his presentation. “It’s going to happen again, and it’s probably going to get even worse next time.”
A California Department of Natural Resources spokesman said Crowfoot reviewed the proposal but declined to comment at this time.
In designing the project, Ennis looked at ways to build a reservoir that offers other benefits, such as adding water reservoir capacity. He chose a location near the California aqueduct. Here, conduits were constructed to pump supply in and out of the state’s main north-south water system.
In a letter to Crowfoot, Ennis described it as “a multipurpose flood protection, water storage and wetland restoration project.” The reservoir will be built with enough capacity to store 500,000 acre feet of water, he said.
Thick clay layers on the lake’s floor, known as Corcolan clay, prevent water from being submerged underground, but some of the stored water can be pumped into nearby locations to replenish groundwater.
Ennis said this will help address the reduction in aquifer levels caused by excessive pumping. In parts of the Lake Tulare basin, the ground has sunk six feet over the past decade as water levels drop under farmland where wells irrigate cotton, tomatoes and other crops.
The project will include a 2,280-acre wetland restoration zone and will include about five construction islands that will provide habitat for birds along the Pacific Flyway travel route, Ennis said.
Crops fly through fields in the Lake Tulare basin.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
In his letter, Ennis told Crowfoot that the lake could become a new state park. He said it would allow for “a partial reenactment of the once-massing Lake Tulare” and “restoring the sacred lands of the people of Yokto,” and creating thousands of acres of wildlife habitat.
Ennis drove to an area just outside Kettleman city a recent afternoon, stopping by the roadside with fields of dry soil, sparse grass and shrub. A few cattle were grazing in the distance, but the barren land on the road appeared to have been abandoned.
“It looked like the desert of Mohab and was once a tulle and elk,” Ennis said. “Let’s return the water to where it belongs. Let’s grow the tulle. Let’s return the habitat.”
Ennis said he remembered driving around the area after the 2023 flood and thinking, “This lake really needs to come back.” He said he agreed with the Tachi Yokut tribe that restoring parts of the lake would improve life in the valley and allow the original ecosystem to take root again.
Ennis said he prepared the proposal on a pro bono basis because he wanted to help develop a multifaceted solution.
He runs a consulting business and does engineering work for cities and developers. When Ennis designed a 3.5-acre wetland in a new parcel in Madera County, he saw that the habitat would flourish five years later, allowing him to grow rapidly from wild species to stand at a height of over 20 feet.
“It taught me that all most of us have to do is add some water,” he said.
In addition to tomatoes and cotton, farms in the area produce crops such as safflower, alfalfa and pistachios.
The 1,100-acre JG Boswell land, a small portion of the company’s vast farmland, will provide a strategic location for lowland front bays to draw floods from the kings and Tule rivers and pump water into the reservoirs, Ennis said.
This would benefit the company by reducing crop losses during floods, he said, and eliminate the practice of routing high flows into the San Joaquin River into the Pacific Ocean.
Just south of the proposed restoration site, the LA County Sanitation District operates the Lake Tulare compost facility, which processes sewage sludge and agricultural waste to produce high-quality compost. Compost is then used on the farmland of the engines, growing wheat and other crops for livestock.
Sanitary district officials cannot comment on the proposal as they have not received the proposal, spokesman Maria Rosales Ramirez said. She said the agency’s farming process is in compliance with the state’s water regulations and “follows strict standards to ensure threats to the environment.”
Workshop participants said they were excited about their efforts to restore the lake. They joined the work group and agreed to hold a meeting.
The irrigation ditch runs beside some of the proposed lake restoration site near Kettleman city.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
“The historic Paasi was once the heart of the great interconnected aquatic landscape that fed a beautiful world filled with lush land, clean water, rich life and great cultures of people,” said Jandoman, executive director and board chair for the River Friend.
Restoring a modern version of the lake represents a rethinking of the relationship between the region and the water, she said.
“Purchase is an attractive idea and could really strengthen the valley’s ecosystem for all those who live there,” Dorman said. “The people in the valley really need to guide this.”
Several supporters said they need to develop this concept further, but feel it is energizing to make it happen. They said restoring the lake fits California’s efforts to curb groundwater depletion by reusing some farmland as habitat areas, helping to prepare for more severe flooding that climate change is expected to bring.
“Any alternative should be considered when trying to develop a systematic approach to restoration,” said Richard Harriman, volunteer consultant at the Tachi Yokut Tribe. “We need to reach out to people, educate them, bring in their allies.”
Harriman suggested it was time to start designing bumper stickers with a motto to build support.
Jeff, the tribe’s vice president, said he liked the idea. He suggested that the sticker on the bumper could be read as “Paasi needs to come back, Lake Tulare needs to come back.”
[ad_2]Source link
