David Zimmerman

Salton Sea series

Could it be that everything in this world remains so fundamentally pure that nothing can ever be more than half ruined? 

I began photographing California's Salton Sea in 2006. An eerily beautiful place. A place of epic incongruities. A bird sanctuary where birds die by the thousands. A teeming fishery stinking of dead fish. A recreational mecca abandoned. Paradise and toxic dump. Lovely ugliness - this is the Salton Sea. 

The Sea finds ways to adapt; dissolving dilapidated docks, swamping abandoned yacht clubs, sinking mans discards and revealing them as the Sea rises and recedes. Barnacles cover old scars as nature reclaims it's territory. New life emerges after massive die-offs. The shore and land bear witness to man's haste to conquer. Short sighted schemes; hopes and dreams, abandoned.

150 miles east of San Diego lies California's largest inland body of fresh water.The Salton Sea's demise began as its supplies of fresh water from the Colorado River were diverted to the booming & thirsty cities of southern California. Due primarily to agricultural runoff; now its primary source of water, the sea and the land for miles around is laden with salts and disease creating an environment from which humans flee and in which wildlife dies. 

The Salton Sea is at a crossroads. Among the immediate concerns, rising salinity, if continued unchecked, will ultimately make the Sea unable to support existing fish species. Without a plentiful food supply at the Salton Sea, no amount of wetland habitat will sustain the Sea's current role as a vital stopover for migratory birds in North America. As the already scarce water supplies of the American Southwest are strained to meet the needs of a burgeoning population (a dilemma being repeated globally), we face increasingly difficult decisions on managing our declining wetland habitats and the valuable water that sustains them. In the context of massive habitat loss elsewhere (California has destroyed 95% of it's wetlands), and the continued escalation in demand for water resources, the future of the Salton Sea is of vital importance for both wildlife and growing human populations. Proposed water transfers from the Imperial Valley and Salton Sea to San Diego are expected to expose 40 percent of the lakebed; roughly 150 square miles. The environmental catastrophy from allowing the Sea to go dry would be devastating. Savage dust storms would spread dust and salts and toxins to most of the western United States.

Yet, remotely, and systematically, greed, ignorance and lack of will continue to destroy this extraordinary place. The State of California continues to reinterpret and cherry-pick the facts. In November, 2008 its website read;

"One of the attractions of the Sea is the abundance of life, manifested in the hundreds of species of birds that reside in, or visit, this important wetland habitat. The Sea teems with fish. That is why some scientists have called the Salton Sea “California’s crown jewel of avian biodiversity” and perhaps the most productive fishery in the world." "Visitors can also enjoy boating, kayaking and taking a tour on a pontoon boat. The salinity of the water and the elevation of the Sea make for some of the fastest boat racing in the nation." (saltonsea.ca.gov)  

The California Legislature has yet to formally adopt a restoration plan or choose an agency to lead the restoration. Nor has it committed the resources to do the work. That's due to a budget crisis, and perhaps to the fact that birds - and the smattering of retirees, renegades, and recluses who still live at the Sea - have little voice in the Sacramento Statehouse.

The Sea in it's modern state, created in a confluence of natural and man-made events 100 years ago now needs the same confluence to survive. Now man and nature must be equal partners in saving the Sea. While the Sea is not yet destroyed, it will be if left ignored and out of public view.

Through my continuing work at the Sea, I hope to keep the issues of the Sea in public view through articles and exhibitions. I believe public opinion can alter the spiraling fate of the Salton Sea.