Challenges

To understand today's conservation challenges in the Tulare Basin, it is important to examine human use of the land over time. This enables us to make informed decisions about how to solve some of the land and water management challenges we face today in this special place.

The Tulare Basin has a long history of continuous human occupancy, stretching back 15,000 years to when early Native Americans hunted large mammals along the former shorelines of the historic Tulare and Ton Tache Lakes. The largest site for early man west of the Rocky Mountains, the Tulare Basin provided immense diversity from which early humans could survive. When the first Spanish and American explorers arrived in the late 1700s, the South Valley Yokuts Indians lived here, in a low-impact, hunter-gatherer society. Dismissed as useless and swampy, early explorers did not realize the value of the 100,000 acres of rivers, sloughs, marshes, and ponds. Critical for the survival of many plant and animal species, these waterways made the Tulare Basin a major hub in the Central Valley wetland system. It wasn't until the gold rush, that white men settled the area and since then, land use has changed exponentially in a short amount of time.

Like many places in California, over the past century, humans have engineered the land and water in the Tulare Basin to meet society's needs. Where diverse wetland and upland habitats intermixed, now we find farms and ranches, industrial areas, and cities and towns. In addition, many natural communities have been altered significantly by the introduction of nonnative plants, which now dominate in many of the remaining natural areas.

As a result of these changes, many plant and animal species have been eliminated from the majority of their historic ranges and their remaining habitat is highly fragmented and degraded. In addition, wildlife travel corridors between similar habitat areas have been eliminated or reduced. Today we risk losing our natural diversity, including 125 plant and animal species already classified at the state or federal level as threatened, endangered, species of special concern, or sensitive species.

Concerns about poor water quality, limited or costly water supply, groundwater storage, flood control, and other water-related issues become even more complicated with the threat of climate change. Potential increases in temperature, coupled with an uncertain increase or decrease in precipitation with shifted timing, makes conservation planning even more relevant for protecting prime farmland, important habitat, water quality, and water supply.

As part of their vision for the organization, Tulare Basin Wildlife Partners aim to turn back the hands of the clock by conserving and restoring critical Tulare Basin upland, wetland, and riparian habitats for people and wildlife. This is the Tulare Basin of tomorrow.