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State Policy Office
106 St. Albans Road
Kensington, CA 94708
Tel. 510-558-0125
Fax 510-527-6478
www.ca.audubon.org
October 24, 2003
Ms. Celeste Cantu, Executive Director
State Water Resources Control Board
Mr. Michael Harris, Deputy Director
Department of Fish and Game
Dr. Jeanine Jones, Principal Engineer
Department of Water Resources
Mr. Tom Kirk, Executive Director
Salton Sea Authority
Re: Criteria and Goals for
Restoration of the Salton Sea
We are writing on behalf of
Audubon's many California members, scientific colleagues and
wildlife supporters to provide criteria and goals for wildlife
protection and habitat restoration at the Salton Sea. This memo is
intended to help guide restoration planning and provide a framework
for evaluating restoration plans as they relate to wildlife, which
the State has recognized as an internationally significant resource
at the Salton Sea. The objectives below address the needs of
wildlife, particularly birds, since that is Audubon's area of
expertise. We assume that experts in other areas will address air
and water quality, local economic development and other important
restoration issues separately.
We hope that the objectives
detailed below will help inform and shape restoration planning and
we look forward to working together to ensure that the final
restoration plan protects and restores wildlife and its habitat in
the Salton Sea ecosystem.
A list of the individuals who
advised Audubon and participated in the development of this memo is
provided as Appendix A.
I. GOALS FOR WILDLIFE AND HABITAT
RESTORATION
Restoration of the Salton Sea
must achieve the maximum feasible protection and restoration of
wildlife habitat, including aquatic and shoreline habitat, as well
as habitat on the surrounding agricultural lands. Newly enacted Fish
and Game Code section 2931 clarifies that the intent of the
Legislature is "restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the
permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem."
The preferred alternative for restoration must achieve, among other
things, the maximum feasible "restoration of long-term stable
aquatic and shoreline habitat for the historic levels and diversity
of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea." Id.
In order to achieve these goals,
restoration must:
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Preserve and enhance all
existing ecosystem and habitat types in and around the Salton Sea,
including agricultural lands that provide important habitat.
-
Ensure no net loss of the
diversity and abundance of wildlife species.
-
Provide adequate monitoring
before, during and after restoration planning to ensure a
scientifically sound basis for restoration.
-
Establish a permanent
scientific research station at the Sea and adequate funding for
ongoing research related to wildlife and habitat.
We describe each of these in more
detail below.
II. PRESERVATION OF ALL EXISTING
HABITAT TYPES
The Salton Sea ecosystem contains
numerous habitat types, each of which is necessary to maintain the
historic levels and diversity of wildlife that depend on the
ecosystem. Some of the habitat types and species most dependent on
them are described below.
A. AGRICULTURAL LANDS
Agricultural lands in Imperial
Valley provide habitat for numerous species of concern and species
that are highly dependent on those lands for their survival.
Restoration plans should include measures for conserving important
agricultural land habitat and helping to facilitate that
conservation through federal and state grant programs. Restoration
of the Salton Sea ecosystem must ensure that fallowing and
efficiency measures are consistent with habitat preservation on the
agricultural lands.
1. Permanently or Frequently
Flooded Lands
This habitat type includes
alfalfa and other crops that are frequently flooded. It is
characterized by shallow, standing water (optimal depth is 6
inches), moist soils and open habitats or crops that are cut back
periodically.
Species that depend on this type
of habitat include Cattle Egret,White-faced Ibis, Gull-billed and
Black Terns, Long-billed Curlew and Whimbrel.
2. Dry Crops
This habitat type is
characterized by recently plowed, grazed or burned fields. Species
that forage on agricultural lands but prefer dry lands include
Ferruginous Hawk, Burrowing Owl, many species of sparrow, curlew,
Mountain Plover, Loggerhead Shrike and Sandhill Crane (which also
needs shallow impoundments).
Taller, shrublike crops such as
cotton and grapes do not generally provide good habitat for
wildlife.
3. Canals, Drains, Seeps and
Riparian Zones
The vegetation along canals -
particularly native species such as arrowweed and willows - provide
crucial habitat for migrant and wintering songbirds (some of the
highest numbers of migrants recorded anywhere in California,
according to PRBO Conservation Science). Unlined canals, drains and
seeps provide the principal nesting habitat for Burrowing Owl
(canal/levee sides only), and Black Rail. These species rely on
seeps that form on the outside of levees throughout the Imperial
Valley. Burrowing Owls rely on the banks of unlined earthen canals
for nesting sites. Canal lining must be implemented in such a way as
to minimize the impacts to these species or must be mitigated.
Mitigation must be monitored to ensure it is providing adequate
alternative habitat.
B. SHORELINE, SHALLOW WATER AND
MUDFLATS
Fish and Game Code section
2931(c)(1) requires the maximum feasible restoration of long-term,
stable shoreline at the Salton Sea. Restoration should ensure the
long-term protection of the entire Salton Sea shoreline and,
especially, the southern shoreline. Protection must include mudflats
(vegetative and non-vegetative), shallow water habitats to 15 inches
deep, freshwater marshes, brackish water, all three river deltas,
and areas that alternate inundation and drying. The southern
shoreline of the Sea is the most critical to protect because of its
gentler slope, which provides much greater shallow water habitat
than the steeper sloped northern shoreline. Any restoration plan
should include protection and enhancement of the entire southern
shoreline, including the southeastern shoreline.
A substantial portion - perhaps
more than half - of the Sea's shoreline should be protected from
industry, urbanization and heavy recreation by the designation of
wilderness, parkland or wildlife refuge.
Species that depend on these
habitat types include migrant and wintering shorebirds, waders,
dabbling ducks, raptors, both Brown and American White Pelicans,
avocets and stilts, migrant and wintering songbirds such as Wilson's
Warblers,and breeding Western Snowy Plovers (which nest in salt
panes at the edge of the Sea).
C. DEEP WATER AND ISLANDS
Species that rely on open,
deep-water habitat include Eared, Western and Clark's grebes,
pelicans, Ruddy Duck, Phalaropes and Black Tern. Preservation of
deep-water habitat requires an adequate, reliable, and relatively
stable water supply that is guaranteed in perpetuity. In addition,
restoration must maintain acceptable levels of salinity, nutrients,
contaminants such as selenium, and water depth. At a minimum, the
Sea must be maintained to a depth of 30 feet or more to ensure
sufficient deep-water habitat.
Islands provide critical habitat
for colonial nesting birds that require a predator-free environment
and unobstructed access to water for thermoregulation. As Sea level
declines, existing islands will no longer be surrounded by water,
exposing some of the nesting species to predators. Already, the
northern end of the Sea has lost its only island, near Johnson
Street and east of the Whitewater River mouth, which is now
connected to the mainland and thus has been abandoned by terns and
skimmers.
Restoration must maintain
channels, fences or other means of protecting the isolation of these
islands. An immediate restoration project could include channeling
around that island to provide adjacent water and protection from
predators. Restoration planning and feasibility studies should also
consider the benefits of constructing additional islands for
habitat. Species that rely on islands for predator-free nesting
habitat include cormorants, terns, skimmers, and the species
dependent on deep-water habitat listed above.
D. FRESH-WATER MARSHES
Fresh water marshes around the
perimeter of the sea provide important habitat for a variety of bird
species including the federally endangered Yuma Clapper Rail, Least
Bittern, and other marsh birds. This habitat is especially important
at the south end of the sea in the state and federal wildlife areas.
Many of the waterbirds using this habitat, including ducks and
shorebirds, move frequently between these freshwater marshes and the
saltier Salton Sea.
Restoration must ensure that the
hydrology of these systems is not negatively altered and that
adequate fresh water supplies continue to feed these systems.
III. DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF
SPECIES
Section 2931 requires protection
of the historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife at the
Salton Sea. To achieve the maximum feasible diversity and abundance
of species, restoration must focus on the number of species as well
as individual species' historic population levels. Since 1999 is the
most recent year for which population data exists for most of these
species, we recommend that 1999 be used as the baseline for
"historic level."
Restoration should ensure
protection of all threatened, endangered, sensitive, California
Species of Special Concern and Fully-Protected Species. Restoration
should also focus on species that are not currently listed under
state or federal law, but would likely need to be without adequate
protection of their Salton Sea habitat, and on those species that
depend in large numbers on the Sea. For instance, 80 percent of
California's White Pelicans depend on the Sea and adjacent
shoreline, 70 percent of California's Western Burrowing Owls depend
on the agricultural landscape of the Imperial Valley Salton Sea
habitat, and over one third of the world's population of Mountain
Plovers rely on the Salton Sea ecosystem.
IV. MONITORING AND RESEARCH
Current monitoring of the Salton
Sea and surrounding habitats is not adequate to provide a sound
scientific basis for long-term wildlife restoration plans. Funding
should be provided immediately to monitor and research the
following:
-
Relationship between water
quality, invertebrates, fish and bird populations
-
Wildlife population estimates
for target species
-
Quantity, characteristics and
specific locations of important bird habitats in the lower
Coachella Valley (within the Salton Sink) and the Imperial Valley
-
Effects of the existing
geothermal plant and related infrastructure (power lines,
effluent, etc.) on the Sea and on birds
-
Specific location and
attributes of habitat provided by drains and canals
-
Effects of type and placement
of different agricultural practices on birds
-
Diet of birds at the Salton Sea
and the effects of pollutants in this diet
-
Effects of increased
urbanization around the Salton Sea, including the effect of
increased tourism and recreation on the Sea and shoreline.
-
Movements of birds among
different habitats within and around the Salton Sea, including the
Imperial Valley.
We strongly recommend the use of
staff and contractors with specific expertise in the Salton Sea
ecosystem and wildlife dependent on that ecosystem for both
monitoring and research.
The Center on Inland Waters at
San Diego State University is already researching and monitoring the
connections between water quality, invertebrates, fish and bird
populations. We recommend funding the continuation and expansion of
this work as a critical underpinning of restoration planning and
adaptive management for wildlife dependent on the Sea.
PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO)
is uniquely qualified and experienced at monitoring and modeling
bird population densities and habitat needs. In 1999, PRBO oversaw
the first year-long, comprehensive bird study at the Salton Sea,
documenting abundance, distribution and phenology of birds at and
around the Sea. We recommend using PRBO for monitoring the bird
species at the Salton Sea.
The Natural History Museum of Los
Angeles has extensive experience monitoring colonial nesting
waterbirds (cormorants, herons, egrets, ibis, gulls, terns and
skimmers) and shorebirds (Snowy Plovers, avocets and stilts), and
should be contracted with to continue and expand that work as part
of the restoration planning process.
To the extent that the
Torres-Martinez Tribe's restoration work on the north shore is
included in habitat restoration plans, it should be monitored and
adapted to maintain and enhance existing habitat. Any restoration
planning and actual restoration should be done in cooperation with
the Tribe and should support the Tribe's efforts to restore habitat.
V. ONGOING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Restoration of an ecosystem as
complex as the Salton Sea will require ongoing scientific research,
in addition to monitoring, to be able to develop effective adaptive
management tools, as required by legislation, and meet restoration
goals. Establishment of a permanent research station, with adequate
facilities, funding, a boat, etc. would facilitate research and the
exchange of data among scientists from different institutions.
Ideally, such research stations would be established at both the
north end (managed by the State) and the south end (managed by the
Federal Government) of the Sea.
The institution(s) responsible
for research and monitoring must ensure that all areas of scientific
research and monitoring related to the Salton Sea ecosystem are
integrated, peer-reviewed and made publicly available as quickly as
possible to ensure successful restoration planning and enable
effective adaptive management.
We would be happy to provide more
background on any of these issues, and look forward to working with
your agencies to ensure that restoration meets the objectives
outlined above.
Please feel free to contact either one of us with questions or
comments.
Sincerely,
Julia Levin, State Policy Director Dan Cooper, Director of Bird
Conservation
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