In February 2020, Andrea Jones scrambled up Obsidian Butte, a lava dome on the southeastern corner of Salton Sea. Amid the expanse of dry, exposed lakebed, the result of decades of water diversions and ongoing drought, she also saw a glimmer of green—unexpected reeds and cattails taking hold around the edge of the sea, signs of budding wetlands. Birds, including dowitchers, American Avocets, Common Yellowthroats, and Black-necked Stilts, flitted about. “It seemed like a sanctuary to me,” recalls Jones, director of bird conservation at 蜜柚APP California. Later that day, as her team tromped through the arid San Felipe wash on the sea’s southwestern shore, they stumbled on another nascent wetland. “We walked half of a mile through bone-dry playa, and suddenly Marsh Wrens and Song Sparrows emerged from reed-filled shallow water bursting with song," Jones says. "Then Sandhill Canes flew by." It was becoming clear how, despite the Salton Sea ecosystem undergoing a massive...