2025 SSMP Annual Report Submitted to State Water Board

The California Natural Resources Agency has submitted its 2025 Annual Report on the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to the State Water Resources Control Board, prepared in compliance with Order WR 2017-0134. The report provides specific updates on the SSMP’s activities in 2024 and planning for future projects, ongoing partnerships to help the SSMP meet its goals, community engagement, and next steps. English and Spanish versions of the report can be found at home page of the SSMP website, www.saltonsea.ca.gov under the Featured Documents heading.  

The State’s Salton Sea restoration and management efforts continued to show significant, demonstrable progress in 2024 — achieving key milestones and accelerating the pace of critical project delivery functions. Completing major construction at the first 4,100 acres of the largest restoration project at the Sea and with new federal funding, the SSMP broke ground to expand it by an additional 750 acres. Further expansion is being initiated to suppress dust and restore habitat on up to 9,000 acres at the south end of the Sea.

In other areas along the Sea, over 1,300 acres – spanning roughly five miles of shoreline – now host native vegetation recently planted to suppress dust over the coming decades.

2024 was the largest single year for Salton Sea restoration and management funding in program history. In the fall of 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation committed $175 million to accelerate construction of restoration projects at the Sea, in addition to $70 million previously committed, for a total of $245 million in federal funding. California voters also passed the Climate Bond (Proposition 4) in November 2024, which included $160 million for Salton Sea restoration and management projects, as well as additional funding up to $10 million to create the new Salton Sea Conservancy, which will focus on the long-term operation and maintenance of the State’s restoration projects.

Over the past year, the SSMP Team has worked to ensure that this historic level of funding can be implemented efficiently by completing critical planning milestones, securing essential permit approvals, and filling key leadership positions. This includes the SSMP’s efforts to secure a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a corresponding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document that collectively provide expedited pathways for SSMP restoration projects to meet federal environmental permitting requirements. Additionally, the SSMP Team finalized a programmatic land access agreement with Reclamation to expedite access to land owned by Reclamation for expedited implementation of SSMP projects in 2024.

Continued partnerships play a crucial role in project delivery and to affirm our program’s commitment to partnership and the community, we released a long-planned report on community needs. This report incorporates input received directly from Salton Sea community members—with the goal of providing information the SSMP and other organizations in the region can use to implement multi-benefit projects that advance both restoration projects and broader objectives essential to community wellbeing.

While we share substantial progress in this annual report, we recognize that significant work remains ahead, and we must continue to accelerate and broaden our work at the Sea.  

The annual report and the status of the SSMP will be the focus of an all-day public workshop convened by the State Water Board on May 21, 2025. Details for this workshop are available on the State Water Board’s Salton Sea program webpage. In addition, the SSMP team plans to hold an in-person community event at the community of West Shores in April 30 during the evening, and an online webinar on May 1 at 12:00 p.m. The SSMP team will provide an overview of the report, share project updates, and answer questions on the work completed by the SSMP during 2024. More details on these community workshops are forthcoming and will be announced via the SSMP e-Newsletter and on the SSMP website.