A Visit to Salton Sea

[voltaman33]

I have heard conflicting info of how the sea was made. Thanks though that is always good to get other perspectives.

[dewhistle]

However, seeing as how human beings are native to the planet, is a lake created accidentally by humans such a long time ago any more unnatural than, say, elephants going to one spot to die, or a swarm of locusts, or any of the other acts by native creatures that change the world around us? I'm not saying we should make free to rape the land, but how long after an accidental lake-ing do we let go say, "Meh, I guess that's a lake now." California has more than enough ugly desert left.

[dewhistle]

I still don't get it. Okay, the lake looks beautiful, with the birds and light mist, but how could anyone stand to vacation there, ever, when they had to suffer the view of California desert every time they turned around? I can't believe that ever looked any better.

[123uniden]

@coldbluerain... This place looks nice but smells terrible, I was about to throw up when I rolled my windows down...

[voltaman33]

Even though it was man-made, it still was beautiful. Of course man interferring with nature usually ends up like this. A dried up ghost town. This video was beautiful towards then end when all those birds flew towards the center of the sea gave me chills.

[eddiemcintire]

@voltaman33The salton sea is not man made, wiki, wiki, wiki!!!  HURRICANES,COLORADO RIVER FLOOD,THEN A FEW YEARS LATER...LEVEES BUILT TO FIX FLOOD. That about sums it up.

[voltaman33]

Even though it was man-made, it still was beautiful. Of course man interferring with nature usually ends up like this. A dried up ghost town.

[Brendon00000]

it should be saved for all reasons, its a dump, a good rec area, its california, and for wildlife

[TheLintee]

Just let Mother Nature take care of itself.  Believe it or not Mother Nature will do what she's gonna do.

[juggareyes]

SAVE THE BIRDS!!!

[TheCrazystubz]

i kickfliped into that pool

then i hard fliped it

[giccat]

I think salton sea should be saved. if not for the sea itself, then do it for the sake of science. this is a place where many of our environmental problems, that needs to be solved, have been speeded up. If this place could be saved. so could global problems as well.

[turbo1964]

we need to save the salton sea. Channels should be dug to the pacific ocean. It potentially could irrigate the entire area especially since the water is evaporating. Desalination is key.

[bigrob981]

its a dieing crap hole.....it was never even supposed to exhist in the first place....eventually the desert will swallow it back up.

[robertmartinez]

Funny you just wrote a reply. I just finished watching a documentary about a Realtor in Washington State who strangled his own 10 year old son & dumped the body in the woods to pretend an abduction...... and for what? Life insurance money. Realtors are scum. All the people who suffered losses in the SS area did so because of Realtors.

[RoyauxdesBeauxArts]

I think a more appropriate word to describe the Salton Sea would be: Tragic. It's easy to categorize something as misunderstood as the Salton Sea as "creepy, funny & weird". What is truly creepy is the US government's indifference towards a potential ecological disaster: the slow destruction of California's largest wetland ecosystem that will inevitably lead to a major health hazard. Non-action is purely economical as the area is the most promising geothermal energy field in California. Tragic.

[robertmartinez]

Yeah, its "tragic." Its tragic that the accident in the early 1900's happened and pristine desert was flooded due to engineering mistakes. Its tragic that the sleazy real estate developers moved in & took advantage of thousands of people by promising them "investment potentials!" And, its tragic that the various levels of government don't bulldoze the crap & haul away the abandoned trailers and debris.

[DukeAlba]

What you didn't mention however, and what most people fail to realize is that since 1905 when the accident occured that all the wetlands that used to be around the LA, San Diego and Orange County areas have all disappeared...

Meanwhile, the Salton Sea has become a replacement as new wetlands and a habitat for thousands of these birds have formed just as they disappeared around the urban centers in the coast since 1905... destroying it would be an ecological disaster for all these bird species

[robertmartinez]

Who said a "replacement" wetland is valid? Its an entirely different geographic location. Wildlife that once thrived in LA and Orange County can't necessarily survive and thrive in the SS desert. No, the SS was an accident and NOT native to the State ecosystem. It should be bulldozed, filled in, and returned to its original pristine desert status.

[robertmartinez]

California's "largest wetland ecosystem" never existed in nature. It was an accident created by man. I'm just amazed at the environmentalists who are chopping beautiful trees down all over California because "they weren't native to the State"...... but now I read you say that you want to save the SS .... even though it wasn't "native to the State." Thats why everyone laughs at "activists."

[DukeAlba]

I'm not an activist. in fact, the majority of the time its environmentalists who are against the idea of the Sea. they argue that it is unnatural...

That is certainly the case, but it is now a natural ecosystem for MILLIONS of birds and it is mankind that is destroying this ecosystem.

An ecosystem that would survive naturally if it would not have been for the polluted agricultural runoff from the farms in Imperial Valley.

[eddiemcintire]

@robertmartinez The accident was created by nature,ie hurricanes that caused the flooding of the Colorado river and in turn,created the salton sea.

[thesethingz]

Nice footage!

[hozer2skate]

lol

i was there that day, i always skate the pool

dats sum sad music, but wat is da name of it?

[TheNauseator]

To me this place is creepy and strangely beautiful at the same time. A potential paradise lost.

Roy Orbison's music fits this video quite well IMO.

[robertmartinez]

Pristine desert is beautiful. The S.S. is creepy because the owners of the properties aren't required to bulldoze their crap and haul it away. Who do we all have to thank for the mess? Greedy real estate developers and their scumbag Realtor Brokers who lured thousands of people into the "investment potential!"