More than 1,700 native trees planted on exposed lakebed next to Salton Sea

For a week in December, California Conservation Corps Inland Empire Center members methodically dug 1,782 holes on exposed lakebed bordering the Salton Sea, and then filled them with native mesquite and palo verde trees. 

The project, a partnership between the CCC, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the California Natural Resources Agency and the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, was an experiment of sorts: What plants will be able to grow and proliferate in the tough clay where California's largest lake has receded?

“This is like a test project, so the tribe is testing on this site and they’re going to see how the plants grow throughout their lifetime," CCC corps member Matthew Stuart said in a news release. 

As part of that test, some of the plants were pre-treated with saline solutions to match existing conditions of the land, while other plants were not modified.

The trees were planted on a section of Torres Martinez's tribal land, which encompasses a total of 24,000 acres checkerboarded around and under the northern half of the Salton Sea. Corps members with the CCC are ages ages 18 through 25 (and military veterans through age 29), who are paid to work on a variety of projects that sustain California’s natural resources, according to the department's website. 

“Getting back to the natural habitat speaks volumes," tribal chairman Thomas Tortez said in the California Conservation Corps release. "And we're appreciative that we have all of these partners here, the CCC and California Natural Resources Agency, to help test how these native plants will do now.”

The hundreds of holes were dug using a piece of equipment called a skid steer, and each plot was fitted with a cocoon, or a donut-shaped biodegradable water reservoir system, which helps to supply water in desert conditions, the news release said. 

The California Conservation Corps said its hope is that the small grove of trees will be a sustainable example for the rest of the region. 

“It is really unique,” Stuart, the corps member, added. “It's like the more I learn about this project, the more I'm really involved now, and I'm invested in this project. I get to have a part of this. And then 10 years, 20 years down the line, I’ll show my kids that this is what I did.”

More:Meet the tribal members 'awakening' the Cahuilla language across Southern California

More:Torres Martinez tribal youth create art in Salton Sea-focused summer internship

Amanda Ulrich writes for The Desert Sun as a Report for America corps member. Reach out on Twitter at @AmandaCUlrich.