I made a two day drive from Bishop, California to Tucson Arizona, where the conference was held. I camped the night on the North Shore of the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is the largest body of water in California. In 1904, attempts to irrigate and farm the adjacent Imperial Valley with man-made diversion channels on the Colorado River failed. The Colorado River flowed into the Salton Basin, which lies 200 feet below sea level. It is now a refuge for birds like this brown pelican that can no longer live in California's central valley, where the same desire for high-yield agriculture persuaded settlers to drain wetlands.