As European settlers spread across North America, prairies, wetlands and bottomland forest were cleared to provide space for agricultural fields. One such victim was Tulare Lake and its adjacent wetlands in the southern portion of California's Central Valley.
Canals, levees and dams were used to drain the lake and marshes for the planting of various crops. In addition, groundwater was pumped in to irrigate those crops, causing the lake bed to sink even lower. This process "worked" for most of the past 125 years; then, global warming ushered in the torrential rain and heavy mountain snows of this past winter.
Tulare Lake has been reborn and will expand further as the spring snowmelt peaks in the Sierra Nevada. We can tame Mother Nature for periods of time but she always has the final say (assisted in this case by our use of fossil fuels).
