Vernal Pools, Historically
Historically, vernal pools flourished; it is only in the last 500 odd years that their disappearance has become a real and present danger. Before the arrival of the Europeans, vernal pools abounded in California, occurring across millions of acres of land. Early settlement of America didn’t harm them particularly: some large settlements were built over vernal pool sites, but not enough to have posed a large threat to vernal pools as a whole. Ranchers often would let their livestock graze around vernal pools, which actually maintained species diversity in pools. The real threat came with the development of large-scale construction tools: inventions like bulldozers made it possible to obliterate vernal pool ecosystems quickly and completely. Before the 1970s, vernal pools were not much in the public consciousness, and most people did not worry about the loss of this habitat (thought many scientists before then had set forth articles and studies about their importance and steady disappearance. A notable such study was one by Dr. Edith A. Purer in San Diego). By this time, 90% of California’s vernal pools had been destroyed.Benefits of Vernal Pools
Vernal pools have many benefits, both for animals and humans. They provide the natural habitat for many vertebrates, invertebrates, and amphibians which are directly suited to their temporary wetland environment. Vernal pools also provide important food, water, and resting places for migrating birds. There are benefits for people as well. Vernal pools help control seasonal flooding by collecting runoff and absorbing precipitation during the water-heavy spring season. They also help maintain the water supply by containing runoff.
Human Impact on Vernal Pools
The central problem facing vernal pools is demolition through construction. Unfortunately, most vernal pools occur on land that is flat and easy to develop, as well as being easily accessible. Most of the destruction of vernal pools has come from land developers completely bulldozing over the habitats. Some large threats to vernal pools are agriculture and the heavy grazing of livestock in the grasslands surrounding vernal pools. Urbanization is a huge threat to the pools--the construction in building new cities and towns often destroys the vernal pools, as they are located in such good places for building. All in all, the human impact on vernal pools has been severely UGLY.
Current Impact Status Assessment
Conservation Efforts
Unlike their Northeastern counterparts, California vernal pools have no overarching clear and specific system for protecting the vernal pools. There are, however, smaller, more specific-location and animal-based policies and efforts, both through the government and not. The first governmental effort deals with the specific species found in vernal pools. The endemic species of vernal pools are officially listed as endangered, and so bulldozing of their habitat is protected under the state and federal Endangered Species Act. (This, however, is a more recent development so has failed to save the 90% of vernal pools originally lost). There have been attempts to make their conservation fall under more local control, such as the Habitat Conservation Plans that have been implemented. For example, San Diego made the Multiple Species Conservation Program in 1997. However, it was extremely open ended: the section on vernal pools allowed for continued destruction as long as everyone tried to minimize impacts. Section 3.3.3 states, “For vernal pools and narrow endemic species, the jurisdictions and other participants will specify measures in their subarea plans to ensure that impacts to these resources are avoided to the maximum extent possible” (MSCP 1998). The section is open to interpretation as it allows agencies to define the meaning of “maximum extent.”
There are non-governmental efforts as well; organizations such as The Nature Conservancy have worked with many conservation projects within the Central Valley. The Flying M Ranch in Merced worked with The Nature Conservancy to form conservation easements--agreements on conservation between a landowner and governmental agency, usually with some sort of transference of rights. The Flying M Ranch has helped conserve thousands of acres of vernal pool land, and hopes to conserve 5,000 more acres in the next few years. There are also a number of conservation sites with protections for vernal pools: sites like the Allensworth Ecological Reserve with 1,300 acres, Tulare County Cosumnes River Preserve with 37,000 acres, the Sacramento County Grassland Ecological Area with 100,000 acres, the Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Ecological Reserve with 8.22 acres. The status of these sites are mostly good, as all except the Loch Lomond site are for multiple types of protected habitats, not just vernal pools.
Current Impact Status Assessment
Future Prospects
I actually think the future prospects for the vernal pool ecosystem are somewhat positive. Based on the data from the table above, most conservation efforts have been moderately to highly successful, and, as the awareness of vernal pools and their endangered status and many benefits has been spreading, I believe the general public will stand less for their destruction. I think that the specific conservation areas have been successful and will continue to be successful, and I believe that the ecosystems may even grow in the nurtured environments. However, I do think it is likely in the future for developers to destroy the unprotected vernal pools, as they have shown a marked ability to wiggle around the open-ended provisions for vernal pool protection. All in all, though, I have faith that vernal pools will continue to remain a beautiful and productive part of the California ecosystems.
Improving Human Impact
First of all, I think that (to improve human impact on vernal pools) more awareness needs to be spread of their plight. If people could see and appreciate just how beautiful these pools are, I think they would be much more inclined to reach out to programs trying to save them, or at least vote for policies in vernal pools' favor. The Northeastern vernal pool associations have put out children's books starring the character Vern A. Pool, and I think these same sorts of measures on the West Coast can help the public learn about and wish to protect vernal pools from a young age. There needs to be more education on the subject of vernal pools. California, as a state, also needs to fight harder for governmental protection of these habitats. We won't be able to protect vernal pools as much as we would like to without government regulations and consequences for those who violate the policies and destroy vernal pools. Right now there just aren't enough consequences, or clear enough policies.
Works Cited
http://www.cnps.org/cnps/publications/fremontia/january_2000/3vendlinski.pdf
(academic journal)
http://www.cnps.org/cnps/publications/fremontia/january_2000/index.php
http://ceres.ca.gov/wetlands/whats_new/vernal_sjq.html
