Posted April 30, 2021
The recruitment period has been extended to May 10 for applicants interested in the Assistant Deputy Director position for the Salton Sea Restoration Program.
The Assistant Deputy Director will lead the Department of Water Resource’s Salton Sea team, deliver wetland and dust suppression projects in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Natural Resources Agency, coordinate across local, state, and federal agencies to support the state’s legal commitments to Salton Sea restoration.
Please access the job posting to view the announcement and duty statement [deleted]. If you have any questions, please contact Myra Galvez at (916) 653-8735.
Salton Sea Management Program Update – April 29, 2021
Also: SSMP Full Annual Report Now in Spanish
The California Department of Water Resources and the Salton Sea Authority have signed a $19.25 million grant funding agreement for the North Lake Demonstration Project, a 160-acre lake to restore habitat, control dust and offer other community benefits.
Riverside County will lead the design and construction effort. With the funding agreement now in place, the county and the Salton Sea Authority will begin extensive community outreach and engagement to better inform the community of the broad project scope, and to further refine the project.
“This project, combined with other restoration efforts already underway, begins a new era of revitalization of the Sea and region,” said G. Patrick O’Dowd, executive director and general manager of the Salton Sea Authority. “Complementing the State’s important work on the Species Conservation Habitat Project which broke ground earlier this year, this demonstration project will inform many future investments at and around the Sea and in the end will provide the local community and region with improved air quality and recreational opportunities lost to the historic decline at the Sea.”
Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, representing all of western Riverside County including the Salton Sea region in the Coachella Valley, stated, “My sincerest thank you to the California Natural Resources Agency staff, the Salton Sea Authority team, and our Riverside county team for the tremendous effort it took to get this agreement across the finish line. This agreement is the beginning of a new life for the Sea. The residents at North Shore and the entire region will see increased protection from shoreline emissions and enjoy an economic and recreational revival.”
Located near the community of North Shore, the demonstration project when completed may be integrated into a larger North Lake concept, envisioned as an approximate 4,030-acre horseshoe-shaped lake at the north end of the Sea to control dust and create habitat for fish and birds.
The 2020-2021 California State budget allocated $19.25 million in Proposition 68 funding to implement the project. It is expected to inform future phases of deep and shallow water habitat development around the Salton Sea. Project construction is expected to start in 2022.
SSMP Full Annual Report Now in Spanish
The full 2021 Annual Report on the Salton Sea Management Program is now available in Spanish. Also available is the executive summary, the Informe anual 2021 resumen ejecutivo. Both are available on the annual report and Informacion en Espanol pages of the SSMP website.
In addition, find other recent updates including the presentation for the annual report to the State Water Resources Control Board and updated project description for the Phase 1: 10-Year Plan.
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Salton Sea Management Program Update – April 6, 2021
Also: Now in Spanish, the Executive Summary of the SSMP Annual Report; SSMP Seeks Applicants for an Assistant Deputy Director
The Salton Sea Management Program is finalizing a contract with the University of California, Santa Cruz to perform an independent feasibility assessment of water importation strategies for the Salton Sea.
UC Santa Cruz will convene an independent expert panel to review 11 water importation concepts submitted to the state in 2018, assess their technical and economic feasibility, and evaluate the overall viability of water importation as a long-term strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. The panel will be supported by an analytical team led by Dr. Brent Haddad, professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz.
The work is expected to get underway by June 1 of this year and conclude by the summer of 2022.
“UC Santa Cruz has significant experience facilitating independent technical panels, and we are excited with the multidisciplinary approach they will take on this project,” said Arturo Delgado, Assistant Secretary for Salton Sea Policy at the California Natural Resources Agency. “We look forward to getting them officially on board so this work can get underway.”
One of the first tasks for UC Santa Cruz will be to develop a detailed work plan for performing the feasibility assessment. Further details will be available in coming weeks.
The feasibility analysis of water importation concepts will be a key input for the long-range plan the SSMP is required to develop and submit to the State Water Resources Control Board. Public engagement to launch development of the long-range plan will begin—concurrently with the independent review of water importation proposals—in the coming months.
The long-range plan, which is due by the end of 2022, will establish a strategy for long-term restoration of the Salton Sea beyond the SSMP’s Phase I: 10-Year Plan currently being implemented. Options evaluated to inform the long-range plan will include project build-out based on projected future water inflows within the Salton Sea watershed, as well as water importation for a whole-Sea alternative if importation is found to be feasible
Now in Spanish, the Executive Summary of the SSMP Annual Report
The executive summary of the 2021 Annual Report on the Salton Sea Management Program is now available in Spanish. Find the Informe anual 2021 resumen ejecutivo on the SSMP home page along with other updates and recent documents. A Spanish translation of the full report is expected soon.
SSMP Seeks Applicants for an Assistant Deputy Director
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is seeking an Assistant Deputy Director for the Salton Sea Restoration Program.
The Assistant Deputy Director will develop and lead the DWR’s Salton Sea team, deliver wetland and dust suppression projects in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Natural Resources Agency, coordinate across local, state, and federal agencies to support the state’s legal commitments to Salton Sea restoration.
Find information and instructions for applying at the CalCareer website: [deleted]
If you have questions, please contact Myra Galvez of DWR at (916) 653-8735.
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March 12, 2021
The State Water Resources Control Board has rescheduled its public workshop on the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to April 7. Please see the notice [deleted]. The workshop, originally set for March 17, was rescheduled to provide stakeholders additional time to review and provide comments on the California Natural Resources Agency’s SSMP annual report, available at:
https://saltonsea.ca.gov/annual-report-on-the-salton-sea-management-program/
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