Salton Sea workshops scheduled for the community

In an effort to keep the residents of the communities who live in the vicinity of the Salton Sea informed about the current state of the progress being made at the state level in regards to the restoration of California’s largest lake, the California Natural Resources Agency has scheduled a series workshops in the Imperial and Coachella valleys where the community is encouraged to attend.

Community members and stakeholders had an opportunity to learn more about the latest developments regarding the Salton Sea and shared input and concerns they have as the Salton Sea Management Program moves forward.

The scheduled workshops will take place in the next four weeks at Salton City, Brawley, Niland, El Centro, Indio and Rancho Mirage.

This will be the first set of workshops the state has held after the California Natural Resources Agency unveiled a 10-year plan for the Salton Sea Management on March 16.

Last year the CN RA also hosted a series of workshops to inform the public of what was going to be done with the $80 million Gov. Jerry Brown allocated for the Salton Sea in his budget.

The 10-year plan sets a roadmap for the state to build dust suppression projects to cover nearly 30,000 acres of exposed lakebed by 2028, which makes 60 percent of the more than 48,000 acres that are expected to become exposed by then.

The state’s plan has a price tag of $383 million, a much more manageable figure than the $1.5 to $2 billion price tag for the full mitigation and restoration of California’s largest lake.

The intent of this plan is to build shallow water ponds for habitat in multiple areas in the southern and northern tips of the sea where it is expected the acreage of exposed lakebed will increase the most.

Other dust suppression methods include surface roughening, moat and row, surface stabilizers and graveling.

Previously announced project such as Red Hill Bay, the Species Conservation Habitat, and the Torres Martinez wetlands are already underway — the projects under the 10-year plan will begin to get built in 2018.