The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 2it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
Isaiah 35:1-2a
I like good news stories and there is one out of the States which is worth our attention. The once mighty Colorado River has been so degraded and diverted that it no longer flows to the sea. The delta which was once a rich and diverse ecosystem has dried up. The Nature Conservancy reports on what has occurred in the past few years:
Three years ago, an innovative agreement between the United States and Mexico ushered in a new era in international water management. Called Minute 319, the agreement authorized a broad array of actions in both the United States and Mexico. Among them was the recognition of the value of nature and the restoration of the parched Colorado River Delta through timed releases of water (called pulse and base flows) from upstream dams.Once an ecological treasure, the Delta is now a a dry, desolate river channel flanked by weed-choked floodplains and irrigated farmland. Fifteen years ago, conservation visionaries resolved to restore the channel and its floodplains to the critical wildlife migration corridor that it once was. Minute 319 initiated a full-scale feasibility test of that vision. By all accounts, Minute 319’s environmental provisions have been a success. In 2014, a pulse of water surged into the Colorado River Delta, rewetting the river corridor all the way to the Gulf of California for the first time in decades.
The result has been the return of wildlife, including bird species which disappeared years ago. Cottonwood and willow trees have suddenly appeared and some are already two metres tall.
Claiming that this is a resurrection might be premature, and a little too theological. But those responsible have certainly found a pulse, or at least created one. This is good news in the bigger scheme of God's Good News.
Thoughts?
