Tulare Lake Returns After 130 Years, Flooding 94,000 Acres of California Farmland

After a 130-year absence, California's Tulare Lake has re-emerged, inundating approximately 94,000 acres of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley. Once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, Tulare Lake began to dry up in the late 19th century due to deliberate land reclamation efforts aimed at expanding agricultural activities. Its resurgence in 2023 is attributed to a series of massive winter storms and significant snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada, overwhelming existing water management infrastructure and leading to extensive flooding.

The reappearance of Tulare Lake has had profound ecological and economic impacts. Ecologically, the. . .