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Imperial/Lower Coachella Valleys

Ecoregion in Sonoran Desert, CA

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The Imperial/Lower Coachella Valleys ecoregion occurs in the basin of Pleistocene Lake Cahuilla. In the Quaternary period, the Colorado River meandered across its delta, sometimes flowing north and creating huge inland lakes in the Salton Basin. The deposited silt and sediments created rich agricultural soils and, with imported Colorado River water and an extensive canal system, cropland dominates the ecoregion’s land cover. The ecoregion mostly is below sea level. The Salton Sea is a terminal lake occupying the lowest parts of the Salton Trough. The elevation of the ecoregion ranges from about 50 feet above sea level to more than 225 feet below sea level at the surface of the Salton Sea. With annual precipitation of less than 3 inches, water levels of the Salton Sea are sustained mostly by agricultural runoff, with some municipal effluent and storm water that flows into the sea through rivers and creeks in the Imperial, Coachella, and Mexicali Valleys. The Salton Sea area is a complex ecosystem of both exotic and endemic species. It has great ecological importance to wintering, migratory, and breeding waterbirds in the Pacific Flyway; however, serious problems exist with effects of increasing salinity, contaminants, disease outbreaks, and large die-offs of birds.

— EPA

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