It was a dumb idea to have built in a lake bed. Feel sorry for all that homeowners and landowners that didn’t know it’s history before building and buying.
The lake should have never been drained, and it's been farmed by corporations that are well aware of it's history. Time to allow it to be what nature wants it to be, revitalizing the aquifer and becoming a haven for wildlife. It's time to stand up to the money.
Nonsense, Tulare Lake is one of the most productive farming areas in the US. They drained the lake specifically to take advantage of the fertile bottom land
i for one am happy to see our nature coming back to what it used to be. owens lake also starting to come back to life. hopefully this will reduce our wildfires as well for the years to come.
California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say. California’s current drought is being billed as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. But scientists who study the West’s long-term climate patterns say the state has been parched for much longer stretches. And they worry that the “megadroughts” typical of California’s earlier history could come again.. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years. “We continue to run California as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven years,” said Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay. “We’re living in a dream world.” The longest droughts of the 20th century, what Californians think of as severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and from 1928 to 1934. Both, Stine said, are minor compared to the ancient droughts of 850 to 1090 and 1140 to 1320.
Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States based upon surface area.
Don't give it away to anyone… especially the coastal elites who just want to have green grass and golf courses. Just leave it alone, let it replenish the ground water supply.
@X vonPocalypse Yeah, I remember Fresno over pumped their Aquifer and the ground compacted 2.5 feet and broke a lot of their water and sewage pipes during the droubt
The snowpack for the upper Kern River watershed stands at 429 percent of normal. And that snow up there has barely begun to melt. And Lake Isabella is already full. This spring thaw is going to be one for the record books that's for sure folks.
It amazes me that California doesn't keep the lake. It used to provide summer monsoon rains from evaporation and uplift from the surrounding mountains. This lake could solve California's water crisis and droughts.
California should expropriate the Tulare Lake area. Eminent domaine was applied hundreds of times building mega dams in the past. It’ll be much cheaper to buy out the properties and ground water can be replenished.
@Ryan K if it was for a rescue mission sure... but since this land is private land the lake becomes a private lake... nobody's going to seek legal action so it probably won't matter
@@mcf3778 Nope. If it's connected to a public waterway then the lake is legally a navigable waterway according to state law! This is literally the law of the land! We are a law-abiding country. It is 100% legal to boat or do any other activity on this now public waterway! Again, this is the law!
The lake wasn’t “thought extinct” it was drained and the water diverted…. Not the same thing, it’s not like it randomly went dry naturally and is all of a sudden filling up..
Just because it was intentionally drained doesn't mean it can't also have been considered extinct. Plenty of flora and fauna have gone extinct due to purposeful action by humans. Do you think they shouldn't be considered extinct because it wasn't done by more natural means?
@@Sundown42 Those flora and fauna don’t reappear do they? Maybe you need to go google what extinct means. Words have meaning, when you misuse words you change the meaning of what you said. If that’s above your comprehension I understand, but that’s a personal problem. The reporter was clearly trying to sensationalize the story. There was no mention of an intentional effort to drain and divert the lake. This report would lead one to believe this is a lake that went dry in the past naturally and is now making a return suddenly out of the blue. Nowhere in my comment did I say anything about what makes something extinct. EXCEPT the fact EXTINCT things never return…… that’s what makes them EXTINCT……
@iTs Rob Plenty of species that have been thought extinct have been rediscovered, and their status changed to endangered. One of the more well-known of these is the Bison of the American Great Plains that were ecologically extinct up until recently thanks to conservation efforts. Methinks you're the one that needs to do their research.
@@Sundown42 *****Also extinct is a BIOLOGICAL term. Something that’s not biological can’t go “extinct” as “Extinct” refers to the dying out/extermination of a SPECIES. A lake can not go extinct. Let alone be thought to be extinct when it was intentionally drained and diverted***** IF ITS NOT LIVING IT CANT GO EXTINCT. An extinct species CAN NOT BE BROUGHT BACK. Thought extinct and extinct are not at all the same thing. The American Bison was never extinct. It was hunted to the brink/verge of extinction.(which was INTENTIONAL to disrupt and starve the native Americans, who we were at WAR with) Being on the VERGE of extinction is far different than extinct. Extinction is PERMANENT no amount of conservation etc can change that. The wholly mammoth is a great example of the permanence of extinction. There’s talk of bringing it back but they’ve been talking about that for decades. Yet no tangible progress has been made, nor will it probably ever be made.(I would have no complaints being proven wrong one day!). The Tasmanian devil is another example and a much more modern one. Another modern one is the CALIFORNIA Grizzly bear! Hunted to EXTINCTION in California, and they have NOT been back sense, as they are EXTINCT. There have been talks of reintroducing them to California but they still wouldn’t be the “California grizzly bear” that went EXTINCT. Another great example is the California CONDOR. They went “EXTINCT” in the wild as the only ones left alive had been captured for breeding programs to bring them back from the VERGE of EXTINCTION. I understand what you’re saying though. It looks like we’ll just have to agree to disagree. It goes back to what I said about words having meaning. One word can complexly change the meaning of a sentence. Like the word THOUGHT added to EXTINCT….
Maybe it's time to let the lake return and replenish the groundwater.... Sucks for the people who bought property at the bottom of a lake. Maybe they'll learn a lesson.
Why would the state in the county allow people to put farms in houses in a lake bed? Everyone knows what’s gonna happen when the water comes back. You shouldn’t allow any private property to border that lake for at least 200 feet. That’s just irresponsible.
@@johnperic6860 It didn't dissappear on it's own. It was drained. So don't drain it and it will remain forever. Just like it always did until they decided to get rid of it.
Some flooded farmland in California receives nationwide comments. Meanwhile the entire state of Florida is underwater including the international airport. Nobody cares about Florida being built in a swamp? Insurance company seem to know what’s going to happen to Florida, that’s why they ALL left.
Though people deserve our compassion for the difficulties they are encountering, I really have trouble mourning the flooding of drained lakebeds and prairie potholes around the country. It's a sort of divine justice for our abuse of the land-or at least a demonstration of the hopelessness of trying to overcome the power of nature.
@@cavaleer Don't tell that to all the Global Warming/Climate Change promoters. Their livelihoods depend on everyone's ignorance and lack of intellect in that regard.
@@bc64100 Personally, I would be on a mountaintop at ground zero celebrating if a massive meteor were forecast to hit the Earth and destroy all human civilization. I think that would be the most awesome thing to witness, and probably the best thing for the universe as a whole.
50/50 chance. This last Winter was called La Nina. Was predicted to be dry and drought to continue. But totally opposite and wrong and those predictors don't admit it. I only have seen one Meteorologist say the prediction was the opposite.
What they haven't mentioned is, the ground has subsided from the removal of ground water! That will make the water level high relative to new lower ground level. It's a shame about the water as it's really needed for other uses/places.
This is the coolest summer I can remember. The nights are still cold and the days feel like I’m at the coast. The trees are so much fuller. There is such a sense of higher quality of living just from the lake
Mother nature is Making California Great AGAIN! 🤟🤘🤙💪💪💪 We about to see Green all over instead of yellow and wild fires.. Take advantage of this!!! you cannot go against mother nature, but can work with it.. Remember the swimming method when falling into strong current rivers.. swim diagonally and with the current to get to the bank!
Move what you can, leave the broken stuff there and claim it on insurance as 100% good. Massive corporate farms have been doing that along the Mississippi for decades, and the insurance company only withholds money from family farms, while paying out Corporate Farms with a smile.
Other news organizations reported we need a couple of winters like this one to fill up ground water levels back to "normal". In addition, water seeps slowly into the ground. A flood does not help that process
1861-2, 1955, 1982-3? I was in the Sf Bay area for that. North San Jose. Alviso. Guadalupe river and Coyote creek floode from South of downtown all the way to the Bay. It was a 100year storm and the beginning of March, a 100 year storm at the end of March, and rain every day in between in March.
This is a temporary basin not a real lake, it will be all dried out naturally in 1-2 years or maybe a few more if there are more strong witners but overall it will disappear naturally
@@californiamade5608 It was named a lake becasue that is what Settlers first found but in reality it is called a dry lake or basin it is a natural low point where winter runoff pools as there is no natural outflow to the ocean. It only fills up once there is enough winter runoff but most of the time it will simply remain as a wet lands or swamp area. Most of the central Valley is in itself a dry lake which fills up during ice ages as weather systems are forced south by the much lower jet stream during an ice age.
Drained lakes are still lake beds, but they don't have water in them. They should consult with the Dutch who have a lot of experience, so the city can be saved. 😮
They don't want to save the cities, the water managers want to squeeze profit from water and fundraise off doom and gloom. It's easier to do when you have droughts then flooding every 2 years that never seem to be fixed. They could have developed the Sites Reservoir ages ago, but willingly chose not to. That's why the are dead clutched on their precious 100 year old water rights that were based on flawed data, and refuse to negotiate with the other 6 states. They have irrigation districts growing livestock fodder FOR EXPORT that own the state leaders and won't allow them to budge. It's all about $$$ and kickbacks to their leadership, they could care less if we all dehydrate. The Dutch are FAR AHEAD of the infrastructure and hydrology of CA, which is pretty sad for the so-called "5th largest economy" honestly
California has more laws on protection of the environmental and wilderness/ Sierra Club. - they have to declare Tularena natural body of water... and not allow motor boats or anything on it for 60 square miles
The Lake is never extinct we do not have the Technology to permanently remove a lake bed. Its high time that the residents of that area abandon such areas and let the lake itself reform back to its original state & remove barriers/levy's. I sometimes wonder how far our madness goes
The crazy thing is the lake originally was much larger than that also to an area that has suffered from drought so much you would think you would do everything to keep the lake around considering it's only a fraction of the size it once was
Just curious if anyone knows the lake surface altitude above sea level. Someone said 183 feet which seems to me impossibly elevated for the southern valley.
The Tulare lake has been dry for a hundred years or more, with an occasional water some wet years (every 16 years or so). We have Isabella Lake. Pine Flat, Success and Kaweah !!! 4 lakes that people enjoy and fish, and boat on. They are deep lakes! Then there was the once in only wet years Tulare lake. It is very shallow not good for boating most years. Tulare lake is more of a swamp ! It is now farmed for many crops not just cotton. Pistachios, tomatoes, safflower, alfalfa, wheat, barley, rye. Some farmers have grown lettuce, onions, and Corn!! Foods that we eat!!!! The water is needed upstream where it can be brought down a little at a time to irrigate farms along the way instead of flooding them. I remember what it was like before the dams were built. The communities down stream from the dams were flooded. Our house was one of them that nearly was flooded. When you have 39 million people in California you need water and food to allow them to live comfortably, That is how this areas was developed.
A large problem has been the pumping of water out of aquifers, draining them and lowing the ground level. Now we have too much water and the video stated the big problem is where to direct the runoff. This may be stupidly simplistic but could you reverse the well pumps and refill the aquifers manually instead of waiting for trickle down over the next 10,000 years? Can do the same thing and refill Lake Mead and Lake Powell?
would be cool if the state made a law that Tulare lake is a natural body of water Then practe State eminent domain for 60 Square miles. Create a wilderness/ Sierra club habitat zone
The lake water is likely contaminated from pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer/manure from the farms. They will not approve recharge pumping unless the water tests to drinking water standards.
This goes to prove it is not nice to fool with mother nature. Diverting rivers, building diversion channels to make more farm land in that lowest land is a battle with a heavy rain and snow year. It is bad to see so many farmers and workers loosing their livelihood for a year or more. We do need the heavy rains and snow pack in our Sierras to help with the severe drought
California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say. California’s current drought is being billed as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. But scientists who study the West’s long-term climate patterns say the state has been parched for much longer stretches. And they worry that the “megadroughts” typical of California’s earlier history could come again.. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years. “We continue to run California as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven years,” said Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay. “We’re living in a dream world.” The longest droughts of the 20th century, what Californians think of as severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and from 1928 to 1934. Both, Stine said, are minor compared to the ancient droughts of 850 to 1090 and 1140 to 1320.
it's funny the newswoman said the lake never "went away". Since it was drained, not filled in, the large depression didn't "go away" and just captured new runoff. Makes me wonder how educated the news staff is, Using the word "fueled" to describe how it filled in.
Historic agricultural reliance on fossil groundwater beneath the Tulare lake basin has resulted in a lowering of the lake bed by some 35 ft in places. Sediment compaction has rendered this lowering permanent. Furthermore, the start of the next (wet) El Nino event will begin later in 2023. Aside from the impending snow melt (and it has yet to stop snowing), there is a wild card: the injection of SEAWATER into the stratosphere & mesosphere during the Tonga Hunga Tonga Haa’apai volcanic eruption on January 15, 2022 means that numerous elements and compounds were also expelled, among them: sodium, chlorine, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, mercury, uranium, iodine, bromine, fluorine, sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen and silica to name but a few. Bearing in mind that the entrained CO2, chlorine & fluorine along with high blast temperature & pressure must have formed ozone-destroying CFC’s. What effect all this will have on global weather is anybody's guess. Two years for Tulare Lake to disappear seems an optimistic forecast.
Weather forecasting farther out than 7-10 days is just guessing. Any professional Meteorologist will admit that. The people who claim to use ocean temperature to predict what will happen 5 months from now are guessing. They claimed this last Winter was a La Nina and said the Winter would be dry and the Drought would continue. Totally wrong and they are quiet about it.
@@Sonoma_Coastclimate and weather predictions are given as likelihoods, not as Facts in advance.. This winter was La Nina conditions which are more likely to be dry in most of CA. There was no way to predict the AR train that occured after the breakup of the Polar Vortex five months early, but it was predicted, as a likelihood, about fourteen to sixteen days before it commenced. Also, some Large-scale features can be seen developing in the model runs up to a month before they occur, but then not all of the models agree, so there is inevitably some tea-reading to be done before the predicton is released. And of course things can still change suddenly, As more sophisticated models and data processing methods are tested out, we now have a good idea of what is LIKELY, to occur as much as two weeks beforehand, which is a vast improvement over what was possible only two or three decades ago, and that is not exaggeration. Sure they mess up all the time, but then again, this is weather. Shiit happens.
Great Salt Lake is also seriously expanding. Another report said there is a huge corporate farm company that actually owns much/most of the land being flooded. They are breaking levies to flood other farms and the city to reduce flooding on their land.
No one is talking about El Nino weather pattern forming out on the Pacific Ocean, which means california can expect more moisture. The central valley was full of water longer than it's been dry.
"The question now is..." No, KPIX the question now is who gave that farmer who broke the levee the right to break the levee and what repurcussions will the farmer face? Thus, anyone can alter or destroy the levees.
I really love the native American folklore as narrated by a very old woman, who said that the lake will be gone but it will LIVE again and again. You go TULARE LAKE!. 🥰
Wondering if we construct some ground water cache basins within the historic flood basins of the rivers feeding into the lake, maybe next time we can start catching and storing a lot of this water in the ground.
It was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi. They rode schooners on it, fished, and it was beautiful. I hope it's brought back. If so, they should find some of the original fish species from other lakes and repopulate it. Hopefully not too much corporate farm pollution was done to the lake bed.
While it was large in surface area, it was very shallow and swampy most of the time. Fantastic habitat for birds, not so much for schooners. They may have gotten a large boat through very occasionally, but it wasn't a regular occurrence.
...I grew up in the area. I was born in 1957 and raised along the Mighty Kings River which feeds the Tulare Basin; as were my parents also born and raised in the area; many family and friends and their generations. In the old days as kids we grew up with some of original "Native Americans" from the area. I will be honest that many locals always thought it was a risk to drain the basin and do farming in the area. But many work in the agri-business of the area. Many of us (me included) moved to the Silicon Valley after graduating from college in the late 70s and 80s.
I saw Pine Flat Dam when the old town buildings where exposed. In the 70's this was indeed a frightening time. I am glad it is filling again. However, I am sorry and regret the damage it is causing. Without water we cannot survive. Nature will have her way.
Can you do a story on that lakes HISTORIC refills throughout the decades 🤔 that would be nice. Do the research on how those farms were NEVER MEANT TO BE PERMANENT.
probably a lot of bailouts by Fema. And then houses and buildings would be raised up like where floods often happen like the Russian river and Alviso. It took several floods on the RR for Fema to declare no more bailouts. You must raise the houses. I think by 10feet. Alviso's got raised 7-10 feet?
I'm amazed that nation/globally wide that when dry seasons hit, inland waterways are not recut. When areas are dry or even relatively dry, dig out the creeks, rivers, ponds ect. That rich soil could be used for farmland. The tuns of soil removed will allow for more water to be displaced where you want it.
Not a bad idea on the surface, however there’s a few flaws. First off, dredging out all those waterways is quite expensive and it messes up fish habitat, plus there’s also the factor of the change in sediment levels, especially when the water reaches the deltas, such as the issues Louisiana is currently facing with the Mississippi River Delta shrinking. Not to mention that a lot of the major rivers around the world have been absolutely destroyed by heavy industrial pollution, so we probably don’t want all those pollutants dumped on our fields and going into our food supply.
