Pictured is the Managed Marsh, a key environmental mitigation project in the Imperial Valley funded by the the Quantification Settlement Agreement Joint Powers Authority. Phase three of the project, the final stage of construction, will soon be complete. This image is from the San Diego County Water Authority’s archives.

Nine thousand trees.

That’s how many (primarily) willows are being planted in the final construction phase of the Managed Marsh, a nearly 1,000-acre marsh habitat off Highway 111 between the city of Calipatria and the community of Niland in northern Imperial County. Funded by the Quantification Settlement Agreement Joint Powers Authority (QSA JPA), the habitat, located close to the Salton Sea, is a key environmental mitigation project to serve the needs of wildlife that depend on area surface drains in the Imperial Valley. With the planting of the 9,000 trees now underway, the Managed Marsh will be completed by

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A file photo of the Salton Sea taken from a hilltop overlooking the sea at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge.

The story of the Salton Sea is complex, often dominated by the understandable concerns that restoration has been slow to move forward, and that exposed playa represents a threat to surrounding communities. While such concerns should not be minimized, there are also the positives worth telling when it comes to the sea. One of those positive aspects of the sea’s story came recently with the announcement that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would be awarding $1 million for a restoration project in Desert Shores—a community on the southern shore of the state’s largest inland lake.

The $1 million is a renewed sign of federal commitment to the Salton Sea, and one more indication that that both the state and federal governments are recognizing the importance of the sea to

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Above is a map of California released by the U.S. Drought Monitor showing the state’s level of drought as of May 18. The image shows that most of the state is facing severe to extreme drought conditions.

Anyone who pays attention to water issues—or has read about the most recent actions by Gov. Newsom to declare drought emergencies in much of California—knows we find ourselves in a prolonged and, for the most part, uncompromising drought. While in the last couple of years, snow and rain have pushed back a little, the same cannot be said for this year. What limited snowpack there has been, was swallowed by dry soils, which means any snows have done little this year to help the drought. On the Colorado River, in particular the Lower Basin, the most recent projections by the Bureau of Reclamation highlight a worsening situation and the likelihood of consecutive shortage

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