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Montague Island, known in Spanish as Isla Montague, is an island at the mouth of the Colorado River in the municipality of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, and is part of the Colorado River Delta and part of a broader region called the Salton Trough. It is about 32 km (20 mi) in length along its longest axis.

The Colorado River Delta region experiences some of the highest tidal ranges in the world, up to 10 metres (33 ft), and at the highest tides, Montague Island is completely inundated. Although the islands in the delta have changed much over time, a map of the region shows Montague Island in 1873. The island is uninhabited, as the climate is very hot, arid and the area occasionally floods. The nearest inhabited town is El Golfo de Santa Clara.

Ecology

The climate in the region of the Island is extremely hot and arid, with average annual rainfall of 2.4 in (60 mm). Montague Island, as part of the Colorado river delta, has had its ecology radically altered by diversion and use of water upstream in the river. The only water reaching the delta, with the exception of occasional floods, is agricultural wastewater.

At least seven species of water birds are known to breed on Montague Island. The island is one of two known active breeding colonies of elegant tern in Mexico. During two years, a large number of nests were destroyed by tidal flooding, but there were only low levels of nests lost to predation. The birds nesting on Montague Island have reacted strongly to El Niño, with brown boobies being replaced by blue-footed boobies, and an increase in nesting of least, elegant, and royal terns, as well as black skimmers.

Montague Island is one of the few locations where Mulinia coloradoensis, an endangered species of clam, is found. This species was once extremely abundant near the mouth of the Colorado river, but now only exists in a few isolated places. The decline of this clam is explained by the increase in salinity of the water due to diversion of and use of water from the Colorado river.

Energy resources

In 1981, Pemex discovered natural gas near the island, prompting a scramble for oil and gas leases in the nearby city of Yuma, Arizona. The area has also been studied for the potential use of tidal power.

References

1. ^ The Delta of the Colorado River, David L. Alles (ed.), Western Washington University, August 6, 2006.
2. Geology of the Salton Trough Archived 2010-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, David A. Alles (ed.), Western Washington University, Edited May 28, 2005.
3. Eduardo Palacios; Eric Mellink (1993). "Additional Records of Breeding Birds from Montague Island, Northern Gulf of California". Western Birds. 24 (4): 259–262.
4. E. Peresbarbosa; E. Mellink (2001). "Nesting Waterbirds of Isla Montague, Northern Gulf of California, Mexico: Loss of Eggs due to Predation and Flooding, 1993–1994". Waterbirds. 24 (2): 265–271. doi:10.2307/1522040. JSTOR 1522040.
5. Antonio Badan (2003). "The effects of El Niño in Mexico: A survey" (PDF). Geofísica Internacional. 42 (3): 567–571. Bibcode:2003GeofI..42..567B. doi:10.22201/igeof.00167169p.2003.42.3.945. S2CID 73651874.
6. Carlie A. Rodriguez; Karl W. Flessa; David Le Dettman (2001). "Effects of Upstream Diversion of Colorado River Water on the Estuarine Bivalve Mollusc Mulinia coloradoensis" (PDF). Conservation Biology. 15 (1): 249–258. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.99463.x.
7. "Find prompts scramble", The Courier, Vol. 90, No. 152, Aug 4, 1981.
8. S. Sheth; M. Shahidehpour (2005). "Tidal energy in electric power systems". IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2005. pp. 1877–1882. doi:10.1109/PES.2005.1489454. ISBN 0-7803-9157-8. S2CID 29198703.

v t e Colorado River system
Jurisdictions	United States Arizona California Colorado Nevada New Mexico Utah Wyoming Mexico Baja California Sonora
Canyons	Byers Canyon Gore Canyon Red Gorge Glenwood Canyon De Beque Canyon Horsethief Canyon Ruby Canyon Westwater Canyon Cataract Canyon Narrow Canyon Glen Canyon Grand Canyon Marble Canyon Granite Gorge Middle Granite Gorge Lower Granite Gorge Grand Wash Canyon Iceberg Canyon Virgin Canyon Boulder Canyon Black Canyon Pyramid Canyon Mohave Canyon
Natural features	River course Rocky Mountains Colorado River Basin Colorado Plateau Grand Lake Horseshoe Bend Sonoran Desert Mojave Desert Lower Colorado River Valley Mohave Valley Parker Valley Palo Verde Valley Colorado Desert Alamo River New River Salton Sea Imperial Valley Delta Montague Island Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez
Tributaries	Blue River Dirty Devil River Dolores River Escalante River Eagle River Fraser River Gila River Green River Gunnison River Kanab Creek Little Colorado River Paria River Roaring Fork River San Juan River Thunder River/Tapeats Creek Virgin River Las Vegas Wash Williams Fork Río Hardy
Engineering	Mainstem dams Shadow Mountain Granby Windy Gap Grand Valley Price-Stubb Glen Canyon Hoover Davis Parker Headgate Rock Palo Verde Imperial Laguna Morelos Major reservoirs Fontenelle Reservoir Flaming Gorge Reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir Navajo Lake Lake Powell Lake Mead Lake Mohave Lake Havasu Imperial Reservoir Theodore Roosevelt Lake San Carlos Lake Aqueducts and canals Grand Ditch Colorado River Aqueduct San Diego Aqueduct Central Arizona Project All-American Canal Alamo Canal Coachella Canal Water projects Boulder Canyon Project Colorado–Big Thompson Project Colorado River Storage Project Grand Valley AVA Yuma Project
Designated areas	Arches National Park Canyonlands National Park Colorado National Monument Dead Horse Point State Park Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Grand Canyon National Park Lake Mead National Recreation Area Rocky Mountain National Park
Related topics	Arizona v. California Colorado River Board of California Colorado River Compact Floyd Dominy Lee's Ferry International Boundary and Water Commission Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Rapids and features U.S. Bureau of Reclamation William Mulholland

31°44′18″N 114°44′47″W / 31.73833°N 114.74639°W / 31.73833; -114.74639

• Islands of Mexicali Municipality
• Islands of the Gulf of California
• Islands of the Colorado River
• Lower Colorado River Valley
• Nature reserves in Mexico
• Protected areas of Baja California
• San Luis Río Colorado Municipality, Sonora
• Steamboat transport on the Colorado River
• Uninhabited islands of Mexico