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1000 Friends of Carr Lake
Click here for the Carr Lake Project Newsletter.
Currently this almost 500 acre Carr Lake Basin is in private ownership and used for agriculture. Its location at the heart of the city presents a unique opportunity to create a central park for Salinas. At this time Salians has less than 1/4 of the national recommendation for parks and open space for communities. Developing Carr Lake Regional Park would more than double the existing acreage of park land in the city and could play an essential role in meeting some of the critical needs of the people of Salinas, while enhancing existing natural resources.
Western Burrowing Owl (after Cummings, no date)
A 25-year flood event in the proposed park.
Several issues are converging to raise the importance of Carr Lake to the future of Salinas:
Flood control remains a priority after the downstream floods of 1995 and 1998. Recent events have clearly demonstrated the need for flood management and the impacts of floods on the citizenry.
Continued growth in the watershed upstream of Carr Lake is increasing the need for flood water detention areas.
With increased population the need for parks and open space is greater than ever.
Plants help reduce pollution through phytoremediation. Carr Lake Regional Park brings the following benefits to the City of Salinas:
Parks and neighborhoods surrounding Carr Lake. A park in the basin has
the opportunity to connect these areas of the city. Carr Lake, one of Salinas' ten ancient lakes, is formed at tthe confluence of Alisal, Natividad and Gabilan Creeks. Like the other low-lying areas, Carr Lake was drained to provide fertile land for agriculture. Around 1910, James D. Carr drained and reclaimed most of the lake after the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks blocked its natural drainage path. This effort was part of a larger project known as the "Reclamation Ditch", which drains approximately 157 square miles of land, ultimately into Monterey Bay. In the 1920's, James Carr sold the land to a Japanese family who drained the rest of the land to grow strawberries and later lettuce and salad greens. THe descendants of this family still own and work the 480 acres of the land in the heart of the City of Salinas. Today the basin is an island of agricultural land cut off from the rest of the valley by increasing urban development.
Formed in 2005, the "1000 Friends of Carr Lake" group is working to make the vision of a Carr Lake Regional Park a reality. During 2005, under the guidance of a coordinator funded by the David and Lucile Packard FOundation, the group will be taking on the following tasks:
Brochure published by 1000 Friends of Carr Lake and The Watershed Institute, CSUMB, 2006
Egret illustration by Emma Burns
Photograph by Return of the Natives Restoration Education Project
All other graphics from "A Vision for Carr Lake", a study prepared for the City of Salinas by the 606 Studio, Department of Landscape Architecture, Cal Poly Pomona, 2003
Original brochure layout by National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program
