Salton Sea Celebrates 100 Years

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 10, 2006 at 1:09 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Visitors and residents of Imperial County are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Salton Sea this weekend. An open house includes field tours and pontoon boat rides. But whether the Salton Sea su

Visitors and residents of Imperial County are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Salton Sea this weekend. An open house includes field tours and pontoon boat rides. But whether the Salton Sea survives another 100 years is uncertain. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The 360 square mile Salton Sea is a popular recreation area and a stopping point for migratory birds. But the health of the Salton Sea has suffered in recent years. Fish die-offs, odor issues and other problems have plagued the waterway. State officials are now considering 10 proposals to prevent the sea from becoming a brackish expanse of mud. Kathy Dice is the Salton Sea State Recreation Area Superintendent. Dice says it’s not easy balancing the needs of all the area’s users.

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Dice: Basically finding the highest use for that area is really the biggest challenge.

Dice says state officials will choose among the ten multibillion-dollar proposals to restore the area next April. She says in 10 years, the sea will lose nearly half of its imported water flows due to a state and federal agreement that transfers the water to fast-growing urban areas. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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