The Salton Sea. Life and Death In An Inland Ocean -
in the americas with david yetman

For more than a thousand years, the Salton Sink In southeastern California has been home to the largest body of water in the state. It is there because the San Andreas Fault is tearing southern California apart and the bottom is dropping out. Three hundred years ago, it was Lake Cahuilla, a freshwater lake, but changing geology, the whims of the Colorado River, and the negative side of extensive, industrial agriculture have resulted in a very salty and polluted sea. Once a booming tourist mecca, drought, agriculture, and failed development have produced a nearly dead body of water. All around the lake are fragments of broken dreams. One place, a most unusual one, continues to thrive.

Episode Duration: 26 minutes and 45 seconds

Episode Number: 1005

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About In The Americas with David Yetman:

IN THE AMERICAS WITH DAVID YETMAN takes a fresh look at the lands that make up much of the Western Hemisphere.

The 10-part series showcases the landscapes, peoples and history of the Americas - from the stories of a small village of Japanese immigrants in the Amazon to descendants of poor Italians in Chile, from Mayan temples in Guatemala to ancient fortresses in Mexico, and from the frigid, glacier-carved barrens of northern Canada to the timeless villages of the altiplano in Peru.

By raft, boat, ferry, horse and motorcycle, host David Yetman journeys to parts of Cuba mostly unknown to the outside world, the wild mountains of western Argentina, festivals in Columbia and the often ignored Great Lakes of the United States.

Along the way, he meets people from all walks of life - natives and immigrants, islanders and mainlanders, pastoralists and city-dwellers - and hears their stories.

David Yetman, longtime host of The Desert Speaks (also distributed through APT Exchange) works as a research social scientist at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona.

Yetman is also a nationally known author of numerous books and articles and an accomplished photographer.