Imperial Valley

Why should it be a National Park?

The Imperial Valley in southern California was once an extremely popular travel destination known as the home of the Salton Sea. This accidental lake is now a virtually abandoned expanse of saltwater surrounded by building ruins, odd geologic formations, and thermal hotspots that pop up infrequently along its shore.

In 1905, a naturally formed lakebed was flooded with additional waters from the Colorado River. Initially, this lake was welcomed by people across the southwest as a vacation paradise. This desert oasis lasted a few decades, but evaporation caused the water level to drop and the salt content to skyrocket. This sudden environmental change killed millions of fish, leaving a wasteland of death on the former beaches. Clouds of dust now regularly emanate from the dying lake bed, often causing a white, smoky atmosphere. Prolonged exposure to this dust has been linked to lung cancer and asthma, causing the local's life expectancy to be the lowest in the nation.

Immediately bordering the Salton Sea is the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. The primary attractions around the refuge are birdwatching and wetlands, as well as thermal features called mud pots and mud volcanoes. "No trespassing" signs are located near the site suggesting visitors stay away, but very few people who visit the site listen. It is very dangerous to walk within 15 feet of the thermal features, as the ground can give way under your feet to 700-degree mud. This area, which could be a miniature Yellowstone, needs better infrastructure to make it a safe destination.

In addition to the man-made Salton Sea, the Imperial Valley has many other amazing and substantial natural sites. The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to the west is a badlands environment that covers 600,000 acres, making it the largest state park in California and second largest in the contiguous United States. The park offers beautiful sweeping vistas sometimes with breathtaking wildflower blooms that appear after rainfall. This desert is home to an immense amount of wildlife and vegetation. Roadrunners, eagles, mules, deer, bighorn sheep, rattlesnakes, and a variety of lizards and iguanas all call the park their home. Another feature at the south end of the Imperial Valley is the excellent Imperial Dunes. These are the largest expanse of sand dunes in California, running 40 miles across the bottom of the state.

While this area has been in decline for decades and it's also not what most people would think of as an exemplary natural landscape, within this devastation lies opportunity. The Salton Sea has scientific, historic, and scenic importance. If a government agency were to step in and reconsider the region as an area to be interpreted and reclaimed, this could result in the first federal park formed specifically with the intention of restoration. A park formed not for its undisturbed natural grandeur, but as an example of how we can take an altered landscape, restore it, and foster its return to health.