@wscevl: California used be different. Tulare Lake and Lake Corcoran #america #ocean #losangeles #sandiego #lake

vinrenon_16 :

Teram :

Oh wow

user784051 :

superasim9 :

But a

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Jax :

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laurenscaggs :

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alfie ⚽🎯✝️🎣 :

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Jerzeyboy609 :

1. The Lake's Natural State Tulare Lake, or Pa'ashi to the Indigenous Tachi Yokut tribe, was a vast, shallow basin in the southern San Joaquin Valley. It was a terminal lake, meaning it had no natural outlet to the ocean, so water from the Sierra Nevada snowmelt would collect there. Its size fluctuated dramatically, but it could cover up to 800 square miles (over 500,000 acres) in wet years. 2. Why It Disappeared (Human Causes) The lake was actively and systematically drained to convert its fertile bed into farmland, a process that started in the late 19th century. The main mechanisms were: River Diversion for Irrigation: Beginning in the 1850s, settlers and new water districts built extensive networks of irrigation canals and ditches to redirect the rivers that fed the lake (Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern Rivers) onto the surrounding arid plains to grow crops like cotton, tomatoes, and alfalfa. Dam Construction: Over time, dams were built on the major tributary rivers (like Pine Flat Dam on the Kings River) to control and store the snowmelt, preventing the water from ever reaching the lakebed. Drainage Projects: Government and private efforts, including the use of the Swampland Act of 1850, actively worked to drain the basin, seeing the land as more valuable for agriculture. By 1899, increasing diversions caused the lake to be essentially dry for the first time on record, except for residual wetlands. 3. Consequences of its Disappearance The disappearance had profound and lasting effects on the region: Environmental Loss: It destroyed a crucial ecosystem and a major stopover point on the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds, leading to a decline in waterfowl and other native species. Agricultural Heartand: The lakebed became part of the highly productive Central Valley, one of the world's most valuable agricultural regions. Indigenous Displacement: The Tachi Yokut tribe, who had relied on the lake for millennia for sustenance and trade, were displaced and forced onto reservations away from their ancestral home. Land Subsidence: Since the lake was drained, the region has heavily relied on over-pumping of groundwater for agriculture, causing the ground

user784051 :

No they drained it