This American Land

- Coming up on "This American Land"... - 50, 100, 150, 200.

- We're basically counting every individual of every species of water bird.

- Pelicans and cormorants once flocked by the tens of thousands to California's largest lake.

So what's happened to the Salton Sea?

- Now, I'm lucky to see two or three white pelicans here, and it's a shame.

It makes me cry.

- And if we're trying to scrub carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, I want to use a crop that can scrub as much of it as possible.

- The grass is always greener when it's fighting climate change.

Faith communities are now part of the solution to make farms more resilient.

- Rose-breasted grosbeak here in the top of this tree here.

- In many areas, songbirds are desperate for healthy habitat.

So some landowners are doing their best to provide diverse new forests and a tasty buffet.

- It looks like maybe a pair.

- Yeah, there's two of them there.

- So let's dig right in.

- Here he comes, straight on in.

- You've landed on another high-flying episode of ""This American Land."

[dynamic music] Funding for this program provided by The Walton Family Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and The Horner Family Fund.

- Hey, everybody, welcome to "This American Land."

I'm your host, Ed Arnett.

We've got some terrific stories for you today about the conservation of America's natural resources, our landscapes, waters, wildlife, and the people that are dedicated to conservation.

We'll start today in Iowa, in the heart of Midwestern farmlands, where a novel idea is taking shape, enlisting farmers to adopt practices to mitigate climate change.

We sent a crew to Iowa to find out more.

- Climate change is this incredible problem that's affecting everybody on the planet at the same time, and we have to find a solution to it.

- I'm Matt Russell.

And for the last year and a half, I've been leading Iowa Interfaith Power & Light.

We are a state affiliate of the national Interfaith Power & Light Movement.

And we've been looking at, how do we get farmers to be part of the climate solution?

I think most people recognize that farmers are causing some of the problems with climate change, and that farmers are victims of a changing climate.

But what we're really doing is inviting farmers from their faith and their values to come into this moment and figure out how they can help solve the problem with their farms.

And why we developed this program in the first place was because I knew there were a lot more farmers in Iowa ready to engage in climate action than people thought.

To mitigate climate change, there's a lot of things that farmers can do.

And really what we're doing is we're taking that greenhouse gas pollution out of the atmosphere, particularly carbon.

We're pulling it down and using our agricultural systems to put it back into the ground where it becomes a resource.

And we can then grow more when the carbon is there, and we get rid of the carbon up in the atmosphere where it's doing harm.

- We've been farming here for about 150 years, so the farm has changed.

We had a lot of diversity on the farm for the vast majority of that time.

As we get later and later in the last century, the economic decisions made it so that our farm became less diverse, almost exclusively corn and soybeans.

So we've tried to introduce things like cover crops, no till, extended rotations.

Those not only help your own field, but they help the entire system and help those larger issues like climate change.

- The huge demand that is unmet is environmental services, and there are a lot of people starting to get really interested in that.

From university researchers to farmers to politicians and agribusiness folks, there's just a lot of interest in how do we farm in a way that benefits the environment?

- So another great crop that's a new crop is miscanthus.

We can add that to the mix.

- This is an Iowa State University research farm actually dedicated to sustainable advanced bioeconomy research.

How do these crops get changed by climate change?

But how are these crops also changing the story?

So I wanted to show you this eddy covariance tower that we put up.

We're measuring the carbon dioxide and the water vapor that's going into or coming off of this field all year round.

- And so this is the kind of research that would help me decide what I want to plant on my farm, like what rotations and stuff.

I mean, this is-- - Absolutely.

So what we do here is we're using measurements of wind speed to calculate how much carbon dioxide left this field or how much was taken up from this field.

So this is really the gold standard way of understanding of a farming practice as a source or a sink of carbon dioxide.

[upbeat music] Today, we are digging about 40 holes to monitor water quality under giant grass.

We are putting in little disks that measure the nitrate.

Let me get a little.

They're both labeled?

- Should be.

- OK. We grow a lot of corn and soybeans here, but they're only on the ground for about six months out of the year.

And the rest of the time, this rich black soil has a lot of nitrogen in it.

And it washes away in our winter snows and our spring rains.

And if we can do something different to this land and, for example, putting a perennial on it, it helps capture that nitrogen before it can leave the field.

So what we're really trying to understand here is how much of that nitrogen this field can capture.

- Yeah, this is my first time in-- - Miscanthus?

- Miscanthus.

I can't even say it.

- Yeah, this is giant miscanthus.

There's lots of different types of miscanthus.

And this grass is really good at taking carbon dioxide out of the air and storing it in plant biomass.

You can burn this instead of coal to use for heat, but you can also turn it into a liquid fuel if you want, using some of the same approaches that we've tried with corn stalks, for example.

But it really makes a nice building material as roofing.

- So what's it doing in the soil?

Like, you told me what's, like, all this, but what's happening in the soil?

- The fun thing about this plant is the same amount of biomass you see above ground is also produced below ground every year.

- It's like a tree, but it's grass.

- Yeah, and that's exactly right.

It's a cane, so it is woody.

And if we're trying to scrub carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, I want to use a crop that can scrub as much of it as possible.

So that's miscanthus so far in my research.

- So what I always talk about is we have to think about carbon farming like we think about food farming.

It didn't just happen.

We figured it out.

And when we apply 10,000 years of agriculture to carbon farming, this is the kind of thing we do.

And we actually accelerate how nature would cycle carbon.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Bless what's coming out of this, that it is enough that our farmers around the world will be able to help solve the biggest environmental problems we face.

[gentle music] - I grew up on a farm.

I am a farmer.

And I did study to be a Catholic priest years ago.

I didn't finish that course of study, and I was not ordained, but I very much have that sense of how can I use all of that to help make the world a better place?

That's really part of who I am as a spiritual person.

It would be OK. Making major changes, but not radical, just significant changes on all the farms across the Midwest, that could have an enormous impact.

It's the equivalent of taking millions and millions of cars off the road.

- Hey, Justin.

How you doing?

- I'm doing well, doing well.

Good to see you-- - Yes, yes.

- --on this nice, snowy, cold October morning.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Normally, we'd have a nice bright green field right now.

But because of the below-normal temperatures this October, this rye is just in the verge of popping up out of the ground.

- What are the list of conservation things you've put in your operation here?

- Cover crops.

I've also done terraces and waterways, a long list.

And I'm very lucky to have the NRCS office that has so many programs for me to pick from.

- And when I look at your pollinator habitat, which is in the Conservation Reserve program, so you're getting a payment from the government, basically renting this from you.

These are your poor-doing soils, right?

I mean, this is creating a little bit of revenue where you wouldn't necessarily have your highest productivity, right?

- That helps.

So that gives me a dependable paycheck from year to year.

- If you had a federal program that would specifically reward you or challenge you to innovate around climate mitigation, is that something you'd be interested in?

- Most definitely, because we as farmers are suffering the repercussions of climate change.

I want to make sure that we are doing what we can to mitigate climate change so that my kids, my grandkids, my great grandkids can farm this farm.

- When we provide an economic incentive that allows them to make some money doing the right thing, it builds the resilience of that farm over a longer period of time.

- Angel, you're going to get in trouble.

- So when you're in a business with small margins and high risk, when you can add a new revenue stream that lowers your risk and that diversifies your income streams, then it's a win-win.

And if doing that, you are helping solve one of the biggest problems in the world, it's not just a win for farmers, it's a win for the whole world.

- Now we go to California, where the state's largest lake, the Salton Sea, is in trouble.

It was formed in 1905 when a massive flood caused the Colorado River to break through irrigation canals and flow into the Salton basin.

The lake has been sustained by runoff from irrigation on surrounding croplands, but now farmers are restricting their use of water And the sea is shrinking, leaving toxic chemicals on its shores that are a hazard to human health.

Our story is reported by Lindsay Fendt.

- The Salton Sea used to be right here over this ledge, and now you see it way out there.

There's been increasing salinity in the water and just a total bottoming out of the fish population.

So for the fish-eating birds, it's been devastating.

- And the Salton Sea is one of the last standing wetlands along the Pacific flyway.

It's a vital part, especially for migrating birds.

But this is not just an environmental issue.

This is a human health issue.

- As the lake is exposed, more dust is kicked up.

- As there's more particles get into the air, that causes a serious public health hazard.

- It's a forgotten area.

I classify this as a third world area.

- I mean, just in the last eight years that I've been here, it's changed dramatically.

- Do you think that people would be shocked to learn that there's a lake of this size in this condition in Southern California?

- Yes, I would, yes.

It needs to have more attention brought to it.

We only have this beauty once in our lives, you know?

And once it's gone, it's gone.

- We're here in the southernmost corner of California at the Salton Sea.

Reaching 15 miles across and 35 miles long, the Salton Sea is California's largest lake.

It's home to small communities, more than 400 species of birds, and one of the country's largest agricultural industries.

But due to changes in the management of the Colorado River, every day, it is shrinking.

I'm Lindsay Fendt reporting from the Salton Sea for The Water Desk.

Very few fish still survive in the lake.

- The salinity has gone up.

Right now, it's at about 68 parts per thousand salt, whereas the Pacific Ocean is at 35 parts per thousand.

Fish, for all intents and purposes, are not able to live in the Salton Sea anymore.

- And the number of fish-eating birds that stop on the Salton Sea has dramatically declined.

We met up with a group from the Audubon Society as they conducted their monthly bird survey.

- So there are some ducks flying.

These are northern shovelers, so I'm going to count by 50.

50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300.

Audubon has 14 points along the shoreline of the sea, and we're basically counting every individual of every species of waterbird.

650 Bonaparte's gulls.

Bo-gu.

- 650.

- I just saw a great blue heron.

- OK. - And what have you guys been finding?

- Well, we still see large numbers of ducks and shorebirds, but a lot of the fish-eating birds like cormorants, pelicans, those have declined.

This was a huge wintering area for pelicans.

We had upwards of 30,000 birds each winter.

Right now, I mean, we're lucky if we get 20 birds on a count like this.

- Can you tell us a little bit why the sea gets saltier as it shrinks?

- Yeah, I mean, if you think about a cup of salt water evaporating, as the water level goes down, the salt doesn't evaporate.

It just sits there.

- What's going to happen to the birds that aren't showing up here anymore?

- That's the question, right?

I mean, what happens if you have 30,000 pelicans that are no longer at a place?

You know, where are they?

The lake is getting smaller, but it's not dying.

It's just changing.

And the bird community is changing along with it.

- Birds are among the animals that are the most resilient, and so their presence or absence at a place like the Salton Sea tells us a lot about the health of the ecosystem.

- You're going to see some of the watermarks from what it used to be, the ancient Kaweah Lake.

In 1905, when they were constructing some of the water canals bringing water from the Colorado River, well, there was an engineer problem.

And for almost 18 months, the water basically flowed into the lake, creating what now is called the modern Salton Sea.

- Here is truly a miracle in the desert, a palm springs with water.

- In the 1950s and '60s, the Salton Sea was a celebrity hotspot full of luxury resorts and rowdy bars.

- And out here was unbelievable fishing.

I mean, literally you could put four or five hooks with a couple pieces of worm.

You'd pull five fish out.

- People boating, fishing, water skiing, swimming.

You could see thousands of white pelicans with black wingtips, and they would just fill the sky.

And it was like ribbons in the sky.

How they just flow along.

It was beautiful.

[pensive music] - But this started to change in the 1970s as the sea became saltier.

Fish started to die.

Birds stopped coming.

- Now I'm lucky to see two or three white pelicans here.

And it's a shame.

It makes me cry.

- People stopped boating and swimming.

Over time, the sea started to shrink as the freshwater evaporated.

- It was, like, right here.

You could literally put your feet in the water.

Now, you have to walk half a mile.

- In 2003, the Imperial Irrigation District agreed to send some of its water to nearby cities.

This made farms more water efficient, but also meant less water was draining to the Salton Sea.

- We transfer water outside to San Diego and the Metropolitan Water District up in LA.

So water that would ultimately end up at the Salton Sea is now going outside of this region.

As a practice in conserving water in the Imperial Valley, our farmers are doing on-farm conservation measures.

So they have switched to drip irrigation or sprinkler irrigation versus flood irrigation.

- One of the problems that it creates is that when we conserve water on farm here, it reduces the water that goes into the Salton Sea.

- While heading off a water crisis in California's cities, water managers have inadvertently created an impending environmental disaster at the Salton Sea.

- What is it that we're looking at here?

- Well, we're looking at exposed lake bed that, just a few years ago, was covered with Salton Sea water.

As the land is more exposed, it lends itself to the potential of a lot more dust to be in the air.

So what we have done is we've cut deep furrows perpendicular to the Salton Sea.

And as the wind comes across, dust particles, or some of them at least, will fall into these furrows and fall out of circulation into the air, bringing the level of contamination down.

- Why is this dust particularly harmful from the lake bed?

- All of the dust is going to have large amounts of salt.

Those salt impacts to crops cause damage.

They basically suffocate the crops.

To the human health aspect, though, the dust particles themselves are so fine that they could potentially get into your lungs.

They can cause respiratory issues.

It's just the small size of the dust particles themselves that cause the potential for human health issues.

- The state of California agreed to restore the sea, but funding issues and bureaucratic red tape have stalled the project for more than 15 years.

- The state of California has plans for restoration, building levees, berms to re-flood that area that has been left high and dry.

- What we have today is the bottom of the basin... - We met many people here who have their own ideas of what could save the sea.

- Our plan is slightly different, and that's to keep the sea as it is, and then cover 50% of the sea with functional habitat islands that are also restoring the water quality.

- The Salton Sea may never be what it once was.

But if nothing is done to restore it, the worst is yet to come for the communities that surround it and the wildlife that depend on it.

- I'm ashamed that the powers that be can't see the beauty and the potential of making the best recreation area in Southern California.

- Many here are still hopeful for its future, but it will take adequate funding, political will, and serious creativity to save it.

I'm Lindsay Fendt, reporting for The Water Desk.

- An update now-- California's Department of Water resources has launched some bold efforts to stabilize the Salton Sea.

It includes, in 2025, habitat creation for wildlife and dust suppression projects to protect human health.

Portions of the dry lake bed are being flooded to create a network of ponds, wetlands, and nesting islands to support both fish and bird populations.

There's close monitoring of salt levels so tilapia can thrive as a food source for the birds resting and nesting on the Pacific flyway.

- In Pennsylvania, the loss of diverse forest habitat has resulted in declining species of songbirds, like the golden-winged warbler.

With a federal program to help private landowners sustainably manage their forests, diverse habitats are now being restored, and songbirds are coming back.

- I've owned the property, started in 1978 when my father died.

It comprises a total area now of 600 acres.

If you own something, you really have a responsibility to take care of it.

What we will see is we go up through here is a blend of the golden-wing habitat and the cerulean habitat.

[clanking] This is my South Mountain Road entrance.

But as you'll note, as we're walking out there, the forest harvest is still ongoing at this point.

- These oaks are going to host a wide variety of insect prey for these insectivorous birds.

Not to mention, the heterogeneity of the residual trees within the stand creates a really complex landscape that allows for a wide variety of different species.

The Baltimore Oriole.

It looks like maybe a pair.

- Yeah, there's two of them there.

[bird chirping] - Rose-breasted grosbeak here in the top of this tree here.

A lot of these species of birds that are benefiting from the property are pretty desperate for habitat.

Early successional birds are in decline generally across the board, and that's due to habitat loss.

So it makes a lot of sense to me that we're seeing birds respond to this as soon as they can get in here.

- Right.

[bird chittering] - Here he comes, right on in.

I think that there's a very high likelihood that, within the next few years, golden-winged warblers may actually occur on the site, even if it's not now.

The key here is responsible forestry that causes regeneration of the forest, a young forest to be created.

If the trees don't regenerate, cutting down trees is harmful to wildlife.

But creating a harvest that results in regeneration of the understory, that is what these animals need.

These wild species rely on regenerating forests to complete their life cycle.

So this timber harvesting.

It essentially mimics a natural disturbance that you might see to regenerate that forest for those species.

- John is one of our best examples of a forward-thinking landowner.

- Now you've opened up the canopy of all these high-quality trees so that they can only grow larger.

- Generally, as I've worked with forest landowners throughout Pennsylvania, I find the majority of the time, they're very open to ideas.

I mean, they want to improve their land, for recreation, for wildlife.

So what you've done, John, here is essentially created a new ecosystem on your forest land that wasn't here before.

They get more and more excited, and I love seeing that process.

They come back to us with their ideas, and it's really a collaborative effort between state, local, and federal agencies and the landowner to come up with the best plan for his property.

- Populations of many eastern forest birds have been declining for a long time, and the golden-winged warbler is one of those species that has been declining the most significantly.

- So it's about 6:15 in the morning.

We're here in North Central Pennsylvania.

This is a birdsong app.

[birds chittering] We are going to try and target nets and golden-winged warblers this morning.

- This is a male golden-winged warbler.

So in Pennsylvania since 2008, we've been studying golden-winged warbler breeding ecology in places like this.

- The first thing we always do is put our silver USGS leg band on.

- The work is being conducted by a series of student field technicians.

Those studies allow us to develop the science, the recommendations that we use on properties, learn their territories, understand the vegetation structure of those territories, understand the surrounding landscape conditions.

- 8.59.

- Boil that stuff down into usable information that landowners can use to manage for golden-winged warblers on their property.

- So early morning, that's really the height of the bird activity.

- Oh, here comes the morning dove.

- Yeah.

- So the morning dove just landed.

- Ooh, a neat woodpecker just came into the suet tree.

It's called a pileated woodpecker.

- We like to keep track of what birds are in our backyard and that gives us ideas of what to plant.

And as citizen scientists, we know that we're helping with migration studies and that kind of thing.

- The focus is for these songbirds of threatened population and create that habitat, and also do that while we're encouraging sustainable forestry in the diversity because so much of our forests in Pennsylvania have become more of a monoculture.

- We need to make sure that we're controlling invasive species and encouraging the growth of desirable seedlings.

- Forested landscapes that have a diversity or a balance of age classes is really what provides the best opportunities to conserve forest wildlife.

You've got that here.

- We're both retired science teachers, and so everything we see around here, we have a fascination for.

And how can we make this even better?

That's what we want, to get the roots out.

- So I feel that we have an obligation as humans to protect the wildlife that actually sustains us.

And so I consider this my little piece of paradise, and I want to protect it as much as I can.

- Remember, you can catch up on other episodes of "This American Land" by using PBS Passport.

- Funding for this program provided by The Walton Family Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and The Horner Family Fund.

[upbeat music]