Salton Sea | California Natural Resources Agency

Salton Sea - Management Program

About

The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake. Thirty-five miles long and 15 miles wide, the desert lake extends from the Coachella Valley into the Imperial Valley. Though saltier than the ocean, the Sea supports an abundance of fish, a food source for millions of migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway. Managing the Sea’s natural, agricultural, and municipal water inflows to maximize bird and fish habitat and minimize fine-particle air pollution will allow California to protect regional health, ecological wealth and a stable water supply.

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Salton Sea Task Force, created in May 2015, has directed agencies to develop a comprehensive management plan for the Sea that will:

Meet a short-term goal of 9,000 acres to 12,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects, and

set a medium-term plan to construct 18,000 acres to 25,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects.

These goals were memorialized in in 2016 through a 10 year Memorandum of Understanding between the United States Department of Interior and the Natural Resources agency and will be implemented through the Salton Sea Management Program pursuant to the Phase I 10-year plan released in March 2017. The Natural Resources Agency is committed to a transparent process with clearly defined goals and measurable objectives aligned with available fiscal and hydrological resources. Progress made by the program will be overseen by the State Water Resources Control Board and California Air Resources Board.

Advisory Committees

Advisory Committee Members

Salton Sea Management Program – Phase I: 10-Year Plan

Under the leadership of Governor Edmund G Brown Jr., the 2014 California Water Action Plan set forth a vision for California water management that balances statewide water supply security with the protection of public, economic and ecological health. The Salton Sea offers a unique opportunity to preserve these values by leveraging a convergence of support from federal, state, and local stakeholders for a smaller and sustainable sea achieved through the projects outlined in The Phase I: 10-Year Plan.

The 10-year Phase I Plan will guide investments at the Salton Sea to protect public health and ecosystem wealth as the Sea recedes and meet goals set forth by the Governor’s Salton Sea Task Force and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) executed on August 31, 2016, and amended on January 18, 2017 by the Department of Interior (DOI) and the California Natural Resource Agency (CNRA).