Free Republic

A ghost lake that vanished decades ago in California's central valley has come back to life with a vengeance after torrents of rain resuscitated the body of water Tulure Lake, wedged between San Francisco and Los Angeles, was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River but dried up by the 1920s 'All of the crops are completely flooded and ruined,' resident Martina Sealy told CNN. 'It takes a lot of jobs for people. That's a lot of food that we provide for up and down California and all around the nation. It's pretty scary.' 'This is just...

long-lost lake in California may reappear after heavy rains in the state. Tulare Lake, a freshwater dry lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, dried up about 80 years ago. It shrank when the land was developed for agriculture and rivers were diverted elsewhere. It became farmland in the middle of the 20th century. It has flooded occasionally since then, but this year is looking to be the wettest yet. California has been hit by severe storms in recent days, as well as throughout much of winter. Forecasters have estimated there will be 4 inches of rain and 4 feet...

Fish protection may have a price tagFriday, April 02, 2004By John Krist Anyone familiar with the operation of state and federal water projects in California recognizes that the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the heart of the state's elaborate plumbing system. A recent federal court decision also places the Delta squarely at the heart of an intensifying debate over one of the nation's bedrock environmental laws, potentially throwing into question the protections afforded a host of threatened and endangered species throughout the water-short West. On Dec. 31, Judge John Paul Wiese of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington,...