For centuries, Tulare Lake occupied the cultural and spiritual center of the Tachi Yokut tribe of California’s Central Valley. The lake was foundational to the tribe’s creation story and provided the resources needed to thrive. Between the late 19th– and early 20th–centuries, a rather direct form of anthropological climate change saw the lake drained completely dry, devasting the Tachi Yokut way of life. Upstream waters were dammed and diverted with abandon, and the region was largely converted to prime agricultural farmland. Since that time, elders of the tribe tell stories of the lake’s mythical role in their people’s former way of life, passing down the belief that it would someday be returned to them.
In 2023, salvation arrived in the form of “the greatest year-over-year water gains in two decades.” Throughout California, historic drought has been beaten back by a string of monstrous precipitation episodes, leaving the media rather confused as to whether this is something to be celebrated. For the Tachi Yokut tribe, the recent turn of events is nothing short of a miracle, as Tulare Lake has indeed reappeared as the elders had prophesized. They are now fighting with state authorities to keep the lake the way it was before settlers interfered. Here’s how the Los Angeles Times describes the surprising turn of events…
HAHA.
Sometimes yeah just can’t win.
Tulare Dust
Merle Haggard
During years of intermittent “droughts” usually no more than 2-3 years of normal or slightly below normal rainfall … punctuated by monsoon years such as 2023 and 2019 which was also a record-breaking precipitation year … we were lectured that not only were our reservoirs being dumped to make “droughts” appear worse, but that our underground aquifers were drained as well. Ohhhhhhhh mommmaaaaaa, the LA Times wailed … our aquifers are bone dry!! In fact, multiple LA Times articles moaned about vast tracts of the Central Valley had SUNKEN!! by tens of feet!! Well … those aquifers are all refilled to the brim … obviously! since Tulare “Lake” could not have appeared out of nowhere had the underground aquifers not been replenished – in FULL! So I await the breathless articles from the LA Times about how the sunken lands have rebounded by tens of feet. I’ll wait. Dum dum de dum dum dum. Oh! What’s that? Ohhhhhh … I see … the LA Times has decided to look at the “Native spirituality” angle of the underground aquifers, and all those baaaaad “settlers” redirection of Native “spiritual” waters. Got it.
Speaking of whiplash … of ground levels
Two quick points: 1) If folks haven’t read “The Kind of California” by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman, please do; it’s worth your time. The book covers the history of the Tulare Lake basin and the incredible building of JG Boswell’s agricultural empire in/around the basin. No, it isn’t a pro-enviro/agriculture-bashing book; I thought it was quite a straight-forward telling. 2) Replenishing the aquifers isn’t a single-season activity. Between the hardpan (which serves as a barrier between the surface and the aquifer) and compaction of the soil (and that there aren’t cost-effective ways to pump ‘clean/pure’ water back into the aquifer), replenishment can take many years. Obviously this year helps–a lot. But the land doesn’t quickly vertically ‘bounce back’. The only halfway decent thing Newsom ever did was to make it easier for farmers to flood their fields with the available excess water.
One other thing: I traded messages with a UC Davis water science professor. I asked him if anyone had every considered the role that ancient Tulare Lake (historically 3-4x the size of Lake Tahoe) had on feeding southern Sierra Nevada glaciers/snowfields and how drying up Tulare may have accelerated the demise of those glaciers. His response? “I’m not aware of anyone every studying that.” Personally I’d love to see some re-glaciation happen in the upper peaks (if for no other reason than to see the media eat crow). And having Mother Nature restore Tulare would be interesting, although there are SERIOUS economic losses to consider/address. The lake used to have sea lions, otters, and seals, and did wonders for waterfowl. People don’t realize what a waterfowl hunter’s paradise California and western Nevada were before so many of our lakes were drained (Owens, Tulare, Buena Vista, Mud/Winnemucca, etc.).
I understand draining a seasonal slough to expand cropland. I do not understand draining a lake to create cropland where a lake used to be…
Yup. Lots of moves like that in California’s development (and that of NV). Owens Lake (eastern side of the Sierras) is now the largest source of toxic dust in the US, because L.A. stole its water from the Owens River. Winnemucca Lake was a national wildlife refuge until the Derby Dam was built on the Truckee River, diverting water away from it and Pyramid Lake; Winnemucca Lake dried completely and remains that way (it’s also home to the oldest petroglyphs in North America–estim. 14,700 yrs old). That dam nearly killed Pyramid Lake too–which is home to the largest cutthroat trout in the world. It’s a spectacular lake, entirely within Paiute land. I could go on and on about idiotic development decisions (re roadways, etc.) made in this state where the mentality for many remains that of the Gold Rush–go in, make a buck, don’t try to build or maintain institutions, and then get out. And yet–the natural beauty remains, and by land area it’s overwhelmingly conservative. We just need to put a wall around a few of the cities and/or get a million conservatives to move here and vote different policies into place.
You appear to be quite knowledgeable on the subject of CA water rights and historically bad development decisions. However … you “triggered” a pet peeve of mine. “Sierra” is plural. “Sierras” sounds as bad to my ear as deers.
Indeed. The Central Valley has been a massive flyway for migrating birds and the seasonal ponds have been important resting/feeding stations for the birds. Preserving the more significant ponds seems reasonable … however every wet spot is not a pond that needs preservation in perpetuity. And why does the LA Times only seem to dwell on the PERSONAL financial gain/loss of the farmers … and not on the fact that they are feeding a hungry world?
This is a very smart PARTNERSHIP with farmers by the Audubon Society. The LA Times writers should take note.
https://ca.audubon.org/conservation/working-lands
Yeah … funny thing … I’m conservative … and that doesn’t mean MAGA hat, Q-Anon, conspiracy theorist … it means conservationist … and … free market capitalist. The two CAN exist in partnership … not given to extremist policies, either way.
Thank you for making me spit coffee out my nose. Yes, you are exactly right. I think it’s a local (CA/NV) thing, specific to talking about the Sierra Nevada. People shorten it to simply “the Sierras”. It’s grammatically incorrect, but it’s what they use. However, now you’ve inspired me to embark on a lifelong effort to correct everyone I meet who uses ‘Sierras’ (including myself). 😉 Wishing you a good rest of week!
My turn to spit coffee as you so politely busted me on my “lifelong effort to correct everyone” … hahaha ha ha … you have NO IDEA … hahahaha ha ha … yes, I am such a bore.
It’s amazing how they can cry ‘climate crisis’ when there is a drought, and cry ‘climate crisis’ when the drought ends.
With all sincerity that they fully believe.
Nothing is evidence against the Church of the AlGoreians
Models: what CAN’T they do…?
I was at the USAF museum a while ago (awesome place, you should see it) I guess they forgot to change one of the exhibits to reflect current environmental dogma. It was near the fire fighting aircraft (next to the Several Air Force ones they got in there, including Ike’s). It was called “Who needs fire to thrive”, a display that explains how forest fires are part of the ecosystem renewal. A: the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, Quaking Aspen tree, etc. It concluded that some species are fire dependant for their survival. Ecological succession. Time to fire someone?