The Salton Sea Run is a multi-year project initiated in 2023 to track the receding shoreline of the Salton Sea. Iröndäd aims to call attention to an unfolding ecological crisis threatening all of Southern California through a unique blend of endurance athletics, activism, and art. Each year, he runs around the sea, for a total distance of 90+ miles in a total time of around 40 hours while tracking his GPS coordinates at 1-second intervals. In doing so, he creates a snapshot of the shoreline for that year that couldn’t be captured by any other means. Comparing the traces from each year, we can all witness how the Salton Sea is shrinking over time.

Iröndäd hopes the Salton Sea Run will shed some light on the impacts of diverting the waters of Colorado River from impoverished communities to more affluent coastal cities. While he’s running, Iröndäd wears a face mask to protect his lungs from the dust blown off of exposed playa and snowshoes to avoid sinking into the soft mudflats that were – until recently – seabed. Over the course of the run, he traverses several dust mitigation projects that have made limited-to-no improvement in airborne particulates, yet have cut off access to the shoreline to all but the most determined. Iröndäd believes that open access to the shoreline of the Salton Sea is ultimately in everyone’s interests- if only to witness the consequences of poor water management on our desert landscapes.

Iröndäd began running around the sea in 2023 and plans to run the shoreline annually until no sea remains to run around. He has presented the data he has collected, along with images taken during the run, at environmental events that focus on water issues.

To see the shoreline traces captured during the Salton Sea Run, please visit The Incredible Shrinking Salton Sea.

To learn more about how you can help save our sea, please visit The EcoMedia Compass.

To understand how the decline of the Salton Sea has affected bird populations, please visit Audubon California.