Thousands of birds dying due to disease at newly-reformed Tulare Lake, California

[timshundo]

Thousands of birds dying at Tulare Lake due to disease

A deadly disease is killing thousands of birds at Tulare Lake.

www.cbsnews.com

TULARE COUNTY - A deadly disease is killing thousands of birds at Tulare Lake.

The lake re-emerged after decades due to historic rainfall in the Central Valley. Currently, it spans about 50-thousand acres, but without proper outflow, diseases like avian botulism become trapped in the water.

"What really kills the bird isn't the avian botulism. What kills the bird is their muscles and their necks become weak, their heads droop into the water, and they end up drowning..." said California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Steve Gonzalez.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has saved hundreds of birds in their on-site hospital, but conditions could worsen with a wet winter.

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"The reason that we're out here in 1983 there was that Tulare Lake reemerged, and 30,000 birds died due to avian botulism. So, we have people that work for us that remember when that happened, and to prevent that, we were proactive on getting out there getting a plan together, responding early to try and prevent a big bird die off," mentioned Steve.

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I wish we could just keep the lake and stop fighting nature on what should be but even if we managed to get all the farmers to give up their private land it'd still be a long road towards it becoming a net positive for the environment.

The story behind this lake and the land and the fuck ups of the past is so fascinating. More info:

‘Healing process’: Indigenous people welcome Tulare lake return

Flooding due to climate change restores US lake, causing devastation for some and a ‘blessing’ to others.

www.aljazeera.com

What's in the mysterious waters of Tulare Lake? Contaminants, egrets and many unknowns

Out on the water, a silence hangs in the air and the sun's harsh glare reflects off the lake's still surface. Small fish float belly-up alongside snakelike tubes of irrigation piping. Five feet below, abandoned chicken coops, dairy barns and equipment sheds slowly rot, their shapes blurred in...

phys.org

Tulare Lake Receding Due to Coordinated Action & Favorable Weather | Governor of California

WHAT TO KNOW: Following months of government efforts to combat flooding, and assisted by favorable weather conditions that have slowed snowmelt, state officials released new data showing that Tulare…

www.gov.ca.gov

California's Long-Dry Tulare Lake Has Returned

Record-breaking snowpack and storms have flooded hundreds of acres of agricultural land in the state's San Joaquin Valley

www.smithsonianmag.com

Located in the lowlands of the San Joaquin Valley in central California, Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi. But in the 1800s, settlers drained the lake for farmland and forced the Tachi Yokut tribe, who lived on its shores, out of the area. The Tachi Yokut tribe once relied on the lake for food, shelter and as a trade route, reports Soreath Hok for NPR. Now, they live a few miles away on a reservation called the Santa Rosa Rancheria.

"This lake—this is who we are," Robert Jeff, the vice chairman of the tribe, tells NPR. "This is where we belong—is right here. We're lake people. Everything that we lived off of was offered to us by this lake."

The lake now stretches about 111,000 acres, just a fraction of its historical size of nearly 512,000 acres (800 square miles), and it's currently five to seven feet deep. Fish have populated its waters, and birds have flocked to its shores. But the lake's return—which was welcomed with a ceremony from tribal members—also means devastation for some local families.

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[Mandos]

I thought there were California regulations instated decades ago that would cause an area with probable flood plains that get flooded get recognized as water areas again and loose their ag zoning? I remember it being an issue in the area I live in for farms near the river? Could be misremembering but seems like the state should be calling this one to stay properly with all the new eco regulations