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<br />001552. <br /> <br />908 <br /> <br />ECOLOGY IA W QUARTERLY <br /> <br />[Vol. 28:903 <br /> <br />Cienega de Santa Clara, an enormous wetland located slightly to <br />the east and north of the mouth of the Colorado. Although the <br />Cienega is physically disconnected from what remains of the <br />"natural" Delta, it is the largest emergent wetland habitat in the <br />Sonoran Desert, and has grown to serve a critical ecological role <br />in the Delta ecosystem, providing thousands of acres of, stable~ <br />open water habitat.22 Fed by a constant flow of highly saline <br />wastewater from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage <br />District (near Yuma, Arizona) through the Main Outlet Drain <br />Extension (MODE) canal, the Cienega currently supports more <br />than 40,000 acres of lush wetlands and pools, providing <br />important habitat for resident water fowl, the Pacific Flyway, and <br />the endangered Yuma Clapper Rail and Desert Pup Fish.23 <br />Figure 1: The Colorado River Delta24 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />I <br />, <br />r <br /> <br /> <br />r <br />" <br /> <br />22. See id; see also LUECKE, supra note 19, at 6-7. <br />23. See Briggs & Comelius, supra note 11, at 515; Jennifer Pitt et al., Replacing <br />the Bypass Flow on the Colorado River: Economic and Environmental Considerations <br />1 (August 2001) (unpublished paper. on file with authors). <br />24. Figure courtesy of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, adapted by authors. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />~ <br />