The CA tiger salamander made the news again.
Solano County lake a refuge for native species
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Olcott Lake is a 150-acre watery wonderland in Solano County that appears for only a few months a year.
Due to the rainy winter and a host of conservation efforts, Olcott Lake is among the largest vernal pools in California and teeming with shrimp, salamanders and other endangered species.
"Of all the conservation plans, this one is really working," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Al Donner. "But we couldn't do it ourselves. This required a lot of groups' involvement. It's been the very light hand of government."
Olcott Lake, in the Jepson Prairie Preserve east of Fairfield, is open to the public through Mother's Day. Visitors can see a blinding spray of wildflowers and an array of rare, unique animals that have evolved over 250 million years to thrive in the unpredictable, temporal vernal pool habitat.
California's Central Valley was once puddled with thousands of vernal pools, springtime bodies of water ranging from a few feet to 100 acres or more. The pools are formed by rain runoff prevented from seeping into the ground by a layer of impenetrable clay-like soil. The pools typically appear in winter and by late spring or early summer have evaporated completely. Lake Olcott is likely to be a muddy depression in a cow pasture by mid-June, biologists said.
Over the millennia, dozens of species adjusted to life in vernal pools: peculiar, challenging habitats that are aquatic a few months of the year, subjected to parched and scorching conditions in the summer and sporadic droughts in which the rains never come at all.
Stopover for birds
The fresh-water, fish-less pools provide ideal stopovers for migrating birds and other animals that feast on the resident shrimp and salamanders.
California's vernal pools began vanishing in the 19th century, as farmers and developers began draining and filling the pools for cropland and homes. Today, only 20 percent of those pools remain, most in wildlife preserves like Jepson Prairie.
Olcott Lake, waist-high at its deepest point, stretches across the grasslands like a great inland sea. Egrets and avocets swoop across the surface, hoping to snag stray fairy shrimp or tiger salamander larvae. Wildflowers and bunchgrass hug the shore, and cattle and sheep graze in the distance.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nature Conservancy, Solano Land Trust and UC Davis are among the groups that have worked to protect and expand the vernal pool habitats around Jepson Prairie. Much of the land has been acquired through agricultural easements, requiring the government to spend very little on property acquisition.
Volunteers help remove nonnative plants, fix fences and lead tours on weekends.
Since its founding in 1980, the preserve has grown from 1,566 acres to more than 4,500 acres, and organizers hope to expand it further under the local water agency's Solano Habitat Conservation Plan, which calls for 30,000 acres of open space throughout the county.
The pool is home to three endangered shrimp: two kinds of fairy shrimp and the tadpole shrimp, prehistoric-looking, 1-inch crustaceans whose eggs can survive years of hot, dry conditions before hatching when the next vernal pool arrives.
Salamander mud holes
It's also habitat for the threatened California tiger salamander, a striking black and white amphibian that, but for a few brief months when the vernal pools arrive, spends most of its life huddled in underground mud holes.
Vernal pools are a gold mine for biologists.
"Because the pools are in such a harsh environment, it's hard for nonnative species to get a foothold here," said Betty Warner, a Fish and Wildlife recovery botanist. "So the pools become a refuge for native species."
Still, keeping nonnative species at bay and protecting what's left of California's natural habitats requires constant vigilance, said Virginia "Shorty" Boucher, manager of UC Davis' natural reserves.
"In California, you have to manage things. You can't just let them sit, because so many people have been coming here, since the 17th century, bringing things that have just taken over," she said.
"If we want to maintain our natural flora and fauna, we have to get our hands dirty," she said. "There's no other way to do it."
Read more here.
Solano County lake a refuge for native species
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Olcott Lake is a 150-acre watery wonderland in Solano County that appears for only a few months a year.
Due to the rainy winter and a host of conservation efforts, Olcott Lake is among the largest vernal pools in California and teeming with shrimp, salamanders and other endangered species.
"Of all the conservation plans, this one is really working," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Al Donner. "But we couldn't do it ourselves. This required a lot of groups' involvement. It's been the very light hand of government."
Olcott Lake, in the Jepson Prairie Preserve east of Fairfield, is open to the public through Mother's Day. Visitors can see a blinding spray of wildflowers and an array of rare, unique animals that have evolved over 250 million years to thrive in the unpredictable, temporal vernal pool habitat.
California's Central Valley was once puddled with thousands of vernal pools, springtime bodies of water ranging from a few feet to 100 acres or more. The pools are formed by rain runoff prevented from seeping into the ground by a layer of impenetrable clay-like soil. The pools typically appear in winter and by late spring or early summer have evaporated completely. Lake Olcott is likely to be a muddy depression in a cow pasture by mid-June, biologists said.
Over the millennia, dozens of species adjusted to life in vernal pools: peculiar, challenging habitats that are aquatic a few months of the year, subjected to parched and scorching conditions in the summer and sporadic droughts in which the rains never come at all.
Stopover for birds
The fresh-water, fish-less pools provide ideal stopovers for migrating birds and other animals that feast on the resident shrimp and salamanders.
California's vernal pools began vanishing in the 19th century, as farmers and developers began draining and filling the pools for cropland and homes. Today, only 20 percent of those pools remain, most in wildlife preserves like Jepson Prairie.
Olcott Lake, waist-high at its deepest point, stretches across the grasslands like a great inland sea. Egrets and avocets swoop across the surface, hoping to snag stray fairy shrimp or tiger salamander larvae. Wildflowers and bunchgrass hug the shore, and cattle and sheep graze in the distance.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nature Conservancy, Solano Land Trust and UC Davis are among the groups that have worked to protect and expand the vernal pool habitats around Jepson Prairie. Much of the land has been acquired through agricultural easements, requiring the government to spend very little on property acquisition.
Volunteers help remove nonnative plants, fix fences and lead tours on weekends.
Since its founding in 1980, the preserve has grown from 1,566 acres to more than 4,500 acres, and organizers hope to expand it further under the local water agency's Solano Habitat Conservation Plan, which calls for 30,000 acres of open space throughout the county.
The pool is home to three endangered shrimp: two kinds of fairy shrimp and the tadpole shrimp, prehistoric-looking, 1-inch crustaceans whose eggs can survive years of hot, dry conditions before hatching when the next vernal pool arrives.
Salamander mud holes
It's also habitat for the threatened California tiger salamander, a striking black and white amphibian that, but for a few brief months when the vernal pools arrive, spends most of its life huddled in underground mud holes.
Vernal pools are a gold mine for biologists.
"Because the pools are in such a harsh environment, it's hard for nonnative species to get a foothold here," said Betty Warner, a Fish and Wildlife recovery botanist. "So the pools become a refuge for native species."
Still, keeping nonnative species at bay and protecting what's left of California's natural habitats requires constant vigilance, said Virginia "Shorty" Boucher, manager of UC Davis' natural reserves.
"In California, you have to manage things. You can't just let them sit, because so many people have been coming here, since the 17th century, bringing things that have just taken over," she said.
"If we want to maintain our natural flora and fauna, we have to get our hands dirty," she said. "There's no other way to do it."
Read more here.