Turkey's Lake Tuz dries up due to climate change, farming

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

KONYA, Turkey (AP) — For centuries, Lake Tuz in central Turkey has hosted huge colonies of flamingos that migrate and breed there when the weather is warm, feeding on algae in the lake’s shallow waters.

This summer, however, a heart-wrenching scene replaced the usual splendid sunset images of the birds captured by wildlife photographer Fahri Tunc. Carcasses of flamingo hatchlings and adults scattered across the cracked, dried-up lake bed.

The 1,665 square kilometer (643 square mile) lake — Turkey’s second-largest lake and home to several bird species — has entirely receded this year. Experts say Lake Tuz (Salt Lake in Turkish) is a victim of climate change-induced drought, which has hit the region hard, and decades of harmful agricultural policies that exhausted the underground water supply.

“There were about 5,000 young flamingos. They all perished because there was no water,” said Tunc, who also heads the regional branch of the Turkish environmental group Doga Dernegi. “It was an incredibly bad scene. It’s not something I can erase from my life. I hope I do not come across such a scene again.”

https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-droughts-environment-137e6f52a8fe14db981a45d19e8907d1

[hunter]

1. Tulare Lake in California must have been a very similar place.

It was about the same size as Lake Tuz fluctuating from 570 to 690 square miles depending upon seasonal rain patterns.

It's gone now.

For centuries, the Tachi tribe or Tache, a Yokuts people, built reed boats and fished in this lake in their homeland, until after the arrival of Spanish and American colonists. The Yokuts had once numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in precontact North America, which was possible because of the rich habitat.

The Yokuts also hunted deer, elk, and antelope, which were numerous along the lake's shoreline. During wet years, the lake was the terminus of the Western Hemisphere's southernmost Chinook salmon run via the San Joaquin River.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake