Salt Pond E6B

I first visited Salt Pond E6B earlier this fall before the winter rains arrived. In the current day, the salt production system is an array of huge ponds. Back in the day when there were dozens of smaller companies the ponds were small as well. One of today’s large ponds can contain the remnants of an entire 19th Century salt production company. Such is the case with Salt Pond E6B, which contains the ruins of the J. W. Sinclair Salt works and (I think) the ruins of the Ohlson Salt Works.

We received 4” of rain from a single storm a month ago and this caused considerable change in Salt Pond E6B – white areas of dry salt have become shallow reddish pools, formerly dry pond bottoms now have several inches of water, the ground slate of footprints and dust was wiped clean, and everywhere there is a sticky clayish mud. Still, it was fun to see how much the landscape had changed in just a few weeks.

Flickr sets from this area taken a few weeks ago:

www.flickr.com/photos/kap_cris/sets/72157622526110202/

www.flickr.com/photos/kap_cris/sets/72157622418972604/

These photographs were taken during a 4.2-mile hike. The camera flew nicely the entire time below my 6-foot Rokkaku - a one kite day!

I am taking these documentary photographs under a Special Use Permit from the California Department of Fish & Game. Kite flying is prohibited over Eden Nature Preserve without a Special Use Permit, as is access to this area of the refuge. You can learn more about our Hidden Ecologies Project at steel.ced.berkeley.edu/research/hidden_ecologies/