Science
Massive 100-Mile-Long Lake Mysteriously Reappears 130 Years After Vanishing
Tulare Lake in California, which is more than 100 miles long and 30 miles wide, used to be one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the United States.
In the late 1800s, Vivian Underhill of Northeastern University said, “a steamboat could carry ‘agricultural supplies from the Bakersfield area up to Fresno (at the heart of the San Joaquin Valley) and then up to San Francisco’ – a distance of nearly 300 miles.”
The researcher clarified, however, that “the state of California’s desire to take [historically indigenous] land and put it into private ownership” was the reason why the lake initially began to evaporate in the late 1850s and early 1860s.
Originally called “Pa’ashi” by the native Tachi Yokut tribe, the lake would be reclaimed by colonialists who would “either drain inundated land or irrigate desert land to create arable farmland.”
People were given half ownership of the property if they could drain it. “So there was a big incentive for while settlers to start doing that work,” she explained.
Tulare Lake was entirely gone by 1890.
However, the lake triumphantly reappeared last year, 130 years after it vanished.
“California just got inundated with snow in the winter and then rain in the spring,” Underhill said.
“If you have a rain and snow event, the snow melts really fast.”
The melted snow then flowed into the lake’s former location.
Wildlife in the area has increased since Tulare returned.
“Birds of all kinds — pelicans, hawks, waterbirds” are returning as well as the ‘vulnerable’ burrowing owl, which has been spotted nesting around the shore.
Additionally, the Tachi Yokut tribe is thrilled about its return.
She said, “The return of the lake has been just an incredibly powerful and spiritual experience,” Underhill said.
“They’ve been holding ceremonies on the side of the lake. They’ve been able to practice their traditional hunting and fishing practices again.”
Not everyone is delighted with the news, though. Flooding has caused farmers and landowners in the area to suffer catastrophic losses to their homes and businesses.
Tulare Lake has been drained once more, but according to Underhill, “floods of this magnitude or higher will happen with increasing frequency due to climate change.”
“At a certain point, I think it would behove the state of California to realize that Tulare Lake wants to remain. And in fact, there’s a lot of economic benefit that could be gained from letting it remain,” she concluded.
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