Tulare Lake

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/tulare-lake

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the location?Southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States
2. What is the primary tributaries?Kaweah River, Tule River, Kern River, and others
3. Where did Tulare Lake go?The lake’s water was redirected by dams and canals for farming and cities. This made the lake shrink and often dry up.
4. How does Tulare Lake sometimes fill up again?When there is a lot of rain or snow, especially during strong El Niño storms, the lake can refill. Years like 1942, 1969, 1983, 1997, 1998, and 2023 saw the lake get big again.

San Joaquin Valley: A major agricultural region in central California, characterized by its fertile soil and extensive irrigation systems.
Native Americans: Indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose ancestral lands included the Tulare Lake basin for thousands of years.
Hydrological Regime: The pattern of water flow and distribution in a region, significantly altered by human intervention at Tulare Lake.
Paleolithic Era: The earliest period of human history, during which early humans inhabited the Tulare Lake region.