As She Rises

The Delta

Episode Summary

For the last episode of the season, we’re traveling to the Colorado River Delta, south of Mexicali, Mexico: where all the waters from upstream are supposed to reach. Here, the Colorado River used to split into braided streams and tendrils, forming a complex estuary of riparian forests, rich wetlands, countless lagoons, and abundant wildlife. But today, the river water no longer reaches the sea. However, environmentalist groups have been working to restore sections of the delta and revitalize the river habitat. Edith Santiago, associate director of the Sonoran Insitute’s Colorado River Delta Program, has spent nearly 20 years connecting the river back to the sea. Maria Cisneros Smallcanyon reads her poem, “Un Radio Pierde Su Señal,” about watching a landscape that was once lush and lively turn sterile and silent. For more: Check out Maria Cisneros Smallcanyon’s work in The Chapter House’s ‘Blacklist Me’ exhibition Learn more about the Sonoran Institute and support their work at sonoraninstitute.org As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network production. Follow Wonder Media Network on Instagram and Twitter.

Episode Notes

For the last episode of the season, we’re traveling to the Colorado River Delta, south of Mexicali, Mexico: where all the waters from upstream are supposed to reach. Here, the Colorado River used to split into braided streams and tendrils, forming a complex estuary of riparian forests, rich wetlands, countless lagoons, and abundant wildlife. But today, the river water no longer reaches the sea. 

However, environmentalist groups have been working to restore sections of the delta and revitalize the river habitat. Edith Santiago, associate director of the Sonoran Insitute’s Colorado River Delta Program, has spent nearly 20 years connecting the river back to the sea. Maria Cisneros Smallcanyon reads her poem, “Un Radio Pierde Su Señal,” about watching a landscape that was once lush and lively turn sterile and silent. 

For more: 

As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network production. Follow Wonder Media Network on Instagram and Twitter.

Episode Transcription

As She Rises Season 3: The Colorado River Basin

Episode 6: The Delta

MARIA CISNEROS

“Un Radio Pierde Su Señal” // “A radio loses its signal”

las flores // the flowers

de los laureles // on the laurels 

parecían algodones // looked like cotton balls

como los que // like the ones

mi mama // my mom

Remojaba // dipped 

en aceite de olivo // in olive oil

y enrollaba con ruda // and covered in rue

para mis dolores // for my earaches

de oídos

se escuchaban tantos // you could hear so many

cantos distintos // different songs

desde la huerta // from the farm

¡RADIO PARAISO!

un paraíso en el desierto // a paradise in the desert

algunas canciones // some songs

salvajes y urgentes // wild and urgent

¡DISFRUTALO MIENTRAS PUEDES! // ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN

Otras // others

tiernas y brumosas– // tender and brooding

un latido de corazón // a heartbeat

¡ESTO SI ES VIDA! // THIS IS LIFE

los limones // the lemons

y las naranjas // and the oranges

brillaban como estrellas // shone like stars

en los árboles– // in the trees

las estrellas de antes // the stars of earlier times

cuando apenas extendía // when I just barely extended

mis raíces hacia lo más profundo // my roots towards the deepest part

de La Tierra // of The Earth

del Desierto // of The Desert

que me robo el corazon // that stole my heart

cuando apenas era niña // when I was barely a little girl

incesante las canciones // incessant songs

a todas horas del dia // at all hours of the day

¡RADIO PARAISO! ¡CONCURSE Y GANE SU DISCO DE SONRISAS! // 

COMPETE & WIN YOUR CD OF SMILES!

y de repente– // And suddenly

Estática // Static

Y // and 

Silencio // silence

ningún movimiento frantico // no frantic movement

de antena // of the antenna

de gancho de fierro // of the iron rod

regresaba la estación // returned to the station

paraíso perdido // paradise lost

señal perdida // signal lost

si pudiera perderme // if i could lose myself

también para siempre // forever, too

en un sueño // in a dream

lo haría // I’d do it

MARIA CISNEROS:

My name is Maria Cisneros. I was born and raised in Arizona, specifically in the desert. Our home sits on two acres of land, and you know, when we moved here, it was just desert. But my dad has such a green thumb. And so as soon as we moved out here, he planted so many trees and so many plants. And so my family's been here over 30 years, and now they're all enormous. It's like a paradise and it just surrounds you.

And so during a certain time of the year, whenever all the flowers are in bloom, and the birds come back, they all build their homes there. And it's like a wall of bird song. It almost feels like an aviary. Like you feel like you're just in the middle of a jungle sometimes. It's so magical. I, I can't explain it,  but that's where this poem came from. One day, um, I was just outside and it was kind of a day like this where it was just kind of overcast and just everything just looked so beautiful and so magical, and I just felt so blessed and grateful and it just sounded like paradise to me. 

And then it made me sad, you know, when I thought about how the city was encroaching on us and how every year it just seemed like there were less and less birds that came back and, you know, “the radio” lost its señal, right? The, the birds started to slowly, you know, lessen and the songs lessened, and it felt like a, you know, a radio losing its signal when you're driving through the mountains and it slowly starts to lose its signal. That’s what it felt like. 

LEAH THOMAS:

Like the environment surrounding our poet, Maria Cisneros, the Colorado River is ruptured.

What happens when a river loses its signal? When it gets disconnected and can’t reach the creatures that rely on it, or find its way home? 

How do you bring it back from the edge?

Hi, I’m Leah Thomas. I’m the founder of Intersectional Environmentalist, an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of communities of color fighting against environmental injustice. 

From Wonder Media Network, this is As She Rises. This season, we’re listening to stories of resilience from the Colorado River Basin.

 

Today, we reach the end: the Colorado River Delta. Where all the waters from upstream are supposed to reach. Where the Colorado River once flowed into the Gulf of California. 

As the river neared the sea, it used to split into braided streams and tendrils, forming a complex estuary of riparian forests, rich wetlands, countless lagoons, and abundant wildlife.  

Aldo Leopold, a naturalist and writer, once paddled through the area in 1922 and observed: “The River was everywhere and nowhere.”  

EDITH SANTIAGO:

If you can imagine a running river with hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water, and steamboats could navigate this river. And you can imagine the volume of water that run through that river. Well, the volume of water that flood to this area was started to reduce, to reduce so much that you couldn't even navigate with a small boat, a fishing boat.

LEAH:

That’s Edith Santiago. And what she's describing is the result of what happens when you choke the river.

Where Edith stood, in the middle of a panorama of tan, dry land, there had once been almost 2 million acres of green wetland. Teeming with countless species of birds and fish and insects. Some say they saw dolphins and turtles that had journeyed far upstream to these waters. There were beavers and once, even jaguars. 

The Delta was also a crucial stopover point for migratory birds on their long journey between South America and Canada, a route delightfully called the Pacific Flyway. Hundreds of thousands of birds stopped in the Delta to rest, recover, and continue on their way. 

When the water disappeared, so did their habitat. 

The delta was also a lifeline for the Cucapá tribe indigenous to this land. The river and its waterways provided food, medicine, and freshwater. It is key to their culture, language, and identity.  As the water dried up, their connection to the river also dwindled. 

The whole community lost access to a river they could swim in, fish in, cook next to, and tell stories about. 

As the population near the Colorado River increased in the U.S., water was drawn away upriver for decades. By the 1970s, this vast wetland south of the border became just various small disconnected habitats. 

Nowadays, by the time the Colorado River reaches the border, 90% of the river’s water has been siphoned off. The wetlands in the delta are mostly drained and dry. In some areas you only see the invasive tamarisk shrub and trash. And the Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf. 

EDITH:

Almost 80% of the wetlands in the delta were reduced to almost just, you know, the desert. Before, you could see large forests of cottonwoods and willows. There a lot of birds, you know, using these cottonwoods and willows when they were migrating or were living here or getting shelter in these areas. So as the water start reduce the wildlife was, you know, moving downstream where the water was, and the communities also had to accustom to these new conditions. 

LEAH:

Edith is the Associate Director of the Sonoran Insitute’s Colorado River Delta Program. The Sonoran Institute is a non-profit that restores ecosystems in the Colorado River Basin. 

Their Colorado River Delta program is based in Mexicali in Baja California, just south of the border. They have been working to restore the Delta for decades. Since Edith joined their team in 2004, she’s had countless jobs in every part of the organization, from administration and management to direct field work and restoration. 

But when Edith first started working in the field, she had never even been to the area. She only knew the delta, and the Gulf of California, through the Jack Cousteau documentaries she watched as a kid. 

So when she went for the first time to visit some of the Sonoran Institute’s restoration sites, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. Nor could she imagine how the Sonoran Institute could possibly help water return. 

EDITH:

It was a surprise because I didn't imagine that it was going to be so dry and hot. And when we went to the restoration site, I was also surprised about the site, I didn't have the idea that, yes, we are gonna get thousands of acre feet of water for the river. It was not that credible for me, let’s say. You know, it was like, Can we do that? Is that possible?

LEAH:

When water laws were first established in the American Southwest in the early 1900s, Mexico was an afterthought. The southern neighbor didn’t secure a share in water rights until 20 years after the Colorado Compact was signed. While U.S. states fought over the river’s water in the following decades, they depleted water availability for Mexico. Between when the U.S. finished building Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, and when Lake Powell filled to capacity in 1980, the Colorado River stopped flowing regularly to the sea.

It seemed like the Colorado River was permanently severed. As if the Delta was dead. 

Then, a glimmer of hope: in the 1980s, several years worth of snowpack melted in the high peaks of the Rockies. The melted water came as spring floods that, like air filling lungs, filled the channels of the Delta and revived it. 

For a while, the native habitat flourished. And a new vision for the future of the Delta was born. Conservationists and environmental organizations, like the Sonoran Institute, saw that the delta could, in some way, be restored. So in 2012, they formed the Raise the River Coalition: a unique partnership with both Mexican and U.S. organizations dedicated to reviving the Delta. 

EDITH:

We all knew that what we wanted is to restore the delta, not to what it was 150 years ago, because that is not possible. But to be able to, create a corridor, a biological corridor along the river and in other places of the Delta in order to improve its quality and to where, where birds or other wildlife could, could rest or be or live. And also where community can connect with the river again.

LEAH:

So the Sonoran Institute, together with another coalition member, Pronatura Noreste, acquired 1,200 acres of land southeast of Mexicali. They turned it into a restoration area called Laguna Grande.

EDITH:

Imagine that you are in Mexicali. It's a city, a large city with a lot of cars and, and not very good quality of the air. And you decide to go to Laguna Grande. So we start driving, and you, as you go, start moving along the highway and everything, you see the deser., You get to know the desert, with different vegetation. And then you see a sign that says Colorado River, and you cross the bridge that crosses the Colorado River and you see that, that there is a little water, that there are some birds and also cattails. But Laguna Grande is still eight kilometers from the bridge where the Colorado River has water. When you are driving along the levy next to the canal, the water canal, you start seeing a huge area with trees, a green area, a very green area. And you are surprised because you have been driving through the Sonoran Desert.

So you drive to the site, and when you get there, as you go enter the site and go, uh, through a tunnel of cottonwood and willows and mesquite, and you continue, and you, you really are amazed about that, you know, the vegetation, the smell of the, the air is different as well. And if you are in a season, for example, now in spring, when the trees start producing seed, you get to see, you know, like snowflakes that start falling down from the, from the trees, because it's all white, because of the seed of the cottonwoods and willows. So it's an amazing feeling. And when you get to the water, to the river that is in Laguna Grande, you have the chance to see, a dam built by a beaver. So those kind of things that you value have been a result of the restoration actions that as a coalition, we have carried out in the delta. 

LEAH:

The Laguna Grande Restoration Area. A comeback story, a living laboratory, a beacon for the future of the Delta. 

Early on, the Sonoran Institute launched an ambitious monitoring program to get to know the land: the soil, the water level, the vegetation, and the bird species that depended on this habitat. They built a nursery to produce native trees like cottonwoods and willows. And they invited thousands of community members over the years to help plant these trees and to take tours of the restoration site.

More than a decade later, they have planted more than 200,000 cottonwood, willow, and mesquite trees—and restored 700 acres. 

Laguna Grande is now the largest and most dense patch of native riparian habitat along the Colorado River in Mexico.

Meanwhile, conservation groups were fighting for more water to reach the Delta, in the way it did during the spring floods in the 80s. That natural phenomenon is what’s called a ‘pulse flow’—when seasonal water flows downstream for two to three months in the spring. Some scientists thought: if we could create regular pulse flows that mimic the spring flooding, it might not be enough to reconnect the river to the ocean, but it could be enough to keep the delta’s habitats healthy. 

 

After years of meetings, court dates, and relationship-building between the U.S. and Mexico, there was finally a breakthrough. In 2012, they reached a comprehensive agreement called ‘Minute 319.’ It’s the framework that legally meant the U.S. and Mexico had to share the river’s water in times of plenty, and that the U.S. would deliver pulse flows to the Delta.

EDITH:

In spring of 2014, we had a pulse flow, and it was really amazing. We all went to Presa Morelos in order to see how the gates were open and the water flow downstream. It was a large volume of water. It was so surprising and amazing. It reached the estuary.

LEAH:

The pulse flow released over 100,000 acre-feet of water—about 1% of the Colorado River’s annual flow—from the gates of Morelos Dam on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

A few weeks later, in April, the gray-green rush of water reached Laguna Grande. The Sonoran Institute seized the opportunity—they had cleared out invasive plant species and dug channels for the water to flow and connect. Native tree seeds were able to germinate and grow, and soon, new habitats were established. These trees and plants grew and created lush pockets of life.

Migratory bird species began to return. 

In fact, bird diversity and abundance increased. Specific species that were targeted in conservation efforts went up in number by 43% in Laguna Grande restoration sites, higher than anywhere else along the river. Birds like the hooded oriole, the yellow-breasted chat, the vermillion flycatcher, and the Gila woodpecker, and the cactus wren.

All thanks to a little water.

Eight weeks after the pulse flow was first released, the Colorado River reached the Gulf of California. For the first, even if brief, reunion in decades.

EDITH:

What I have learned from what we have done in Laguna Grande restoration activities is that little water makes a huge change. The other is that community members are the base for these restoration sites to be preserved and conserved.

LEAH:

When the pulse flow came through, people flocked to the banks of a previously dry river to splash and play and rejoice. Reaffirming that all this hard work to restore the delta is worth it.

EDITH:

You could see hundreds of people visiting during two or three months just to, you know, to be in touch with the water, to connect with the water. A lot of people was waiting for the water to arrive to the site. You could see children that have never seen the river with water or animals, elder people, you know, remembering when there was water in that site. And while they did, they were swimming, they were fishing…

LEAH:

The Sonoran Institute’s work wouldn’t be possible without the community of volunteers that help them plant trees, monitor the habitat, and restore the delta. 

The Institute has weekend programs for people to come visit Laguna Grande. There’s an interpretation center, with information about the delta’s ecosystem and the history of water mismanagement that led to its desiccation. Community members are empowered to monitor the Laguna and are taught how to recognize signs of its health.

TAPE: [The group is looking at a green heron. They’re all saying “look, there it is,” a woman, Celia, says: “There it goes!” and all the kids lose it]

LEAH:

They also invite students to come, to take a tour, and learn these skills: students from primary school to university. Because these are the generations who will one day take up stewardship of  the delta.

TAPE: [Celia is explaining how they collect forest samples. She picks up a stick, says “Well, this one is a bit small since a beaver got to it…”]

LEAH:

Employees like Celia Alvarado are perfect examples of what’s possible. She grew up climbing trees and watching birds fly in the sky. Not until she was an adult, planting trees for the Sonoran Institute, did she feel reconnected to that childhood love. More than ten years later, she’s a permanent member of the team, supervising tree planting and production. And sometimes, giving tours and sharing her love and care for the Delta.

TAPE: [Celia explains she learned everything she knows at the SI, and does her work with more pride than ever knowing people will continue to use it. Another guest thanks her and the team for reforesting the area. Applause!]

LEAH:

Edith has also worked in environmental education at the Sonoran Institute. And she has found that people form lasting attachments to the water. 

EDITH:

I remember a couple of years ago I used to do environmental education activities and workshops and everything with students, but years later, let's say seven or eight years later, I met a person in a workshop and she told me, I remember you. Because of you, because of the talk you gave us, that inspired me to get to know more about wildlife and vegetation and everything, so I decided to study biology.

Just yesterday we had a workshop with government representatives. We had crayons there and we asked them to draw a place that they remember where they felt really good. Where they spent time happy and everything. And a lot of people drew water, a wetland. Two of them actually drew a place close to the restoration site. And they say yes, and they told us, I was there when the water, when the pulse flow and we visited it almost every weekend because of the water, to have a carne asada or to swim or to take their children to see the site. 

LEAH:

Restoration efforts continue. The U.S. and Mexico renegotiated how they share the Colorado River’s water and the Raise the River coalition managed to buy some water rights in the Mexicali Valley. Since the initial 2014 pulse flow, smaller flows have been pushed through the area. They were engineered to reach certain restoration sites in the delta over a longer period of time.

The success of the restoration demonstrates how necessary it is to continue to invest in the delta’s future.

EDITH:

And so far we have increased by 50% the number of days that the river and the sea or the sea and the river connect during the, the year. Our goal is to reach 220 days of connection a year.

It is important to restore these areas and keep, conserve them as well, eh, because it's part of our life. It’s part of, our cycle, our life cycle as well. Wildlife is really important for, for everything. If there is no wildlife or the wetlands, the services they provide us also disappear. And one of them is water, to provide us with water and also the landscape and the species you can see there as well. And culturally as well, you know, for the Cucapá group, the Indigenous group as well, the river is part of their life, has been part of their life for many years. And those are the things that we have to conserve or we can conserve by restoring the delta.

What gives me hope in the face of the future challenges is that, many people, decision makers have visited the site, community members here in Mexicali know the site and value it. And we all together can, raise our hand and say, we want to preserve this area, continue restoring the Colorado River Delta.

 

LEAH:

Throughout this season, we've listened to stories of resilience from the Colorado River Basin. A region that has been forever altered by colonial water practices. And even still, in each corner of the basin there are stories of communities resisting extractive industries, regaining water rights, reinvigorating Native traditions, and even restoring the river itself. Not to the way it used to be. But to a new form. 

No matter how spectacular the transformation of these pockets of the Delta has been, it didn’t come by magic. 

It was the result of people coming together and dedicating themselves to the river. To the birds and native plants and insects and people. In the face of a river that seemed beyond hope, they dared to bring a different possibility into being. Through years of planting and painstaking negotiations. Through collaboration in spite of past insults. Through coalition-building: sharing strengths and knowledge. And they share this vision, this work, this love, with others.

We must follow their example. Not only to protect and conserve the Colorado River for all of the life that depends on it. But to protect and fight for all the places and creatures that we hold dear on this planet.  

It will take all of us.

The Sonoran Institute works on other restoration sites, not only throughout the delta, throughout the Colorado River Basin. You can learn more about their work and support it at sonoraninstitute.org.

Special thanks to Alejandra Vieyra and Francisco Zamora from the Sonoran Institute and to Lynne Bairstow from the Raise the River Coalition.

You can reach Maria Cisneros, the poet at the top of the show, on Instagram @mcisnerossmallcanyon. She was recently featured in The Chapter House’s ‘Blacklist Me’ exhibition. You can find a link to it in our show notes. Our field producer in Mexicali was Abril Angelica Rodriguez Martinez.

As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network Production. Our creator and editor is Grace Lynch. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan. Emily Rudder is our Head of Development. The show is produced by Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Ale Tejeda, Brittany Martinez, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Sara Schleede. Original music by Andrea Kristinsdottir and Jessica Jarvis. 

Until next time.