It’s a vernal pool!
Some of my favorite classes at Texas A&M University forty years ago were labs, especially labs where we got to go outside, off campus, into the forests and grasslands that surround College Station, Texas. We studied species diversification, species density, species survival.
A couple of months ago I discovered vernal pools. Back in Texas, we called them “puddles of water,” and we didn’t study their species or anything like that. We played mud football in them!
San Diego County used to be covered with tens of thousands of vernal pools. That was back when the species density of humans was three hundred thousand. Now that it’s over three million, vernal pools have been destroyed in the interest of progress, progress like homes to live in, car dealerships to move us around, gas stations to provide gas for the cars that move us around, grocery stores, and, of course, the ubiquitous shopping mall.
I’ve been waiting for the rains to come so that I could visit a vernal pool and get some pictures, like the following panorama (I would say “Click on the image for a larger size” but that features seems to have been done away with recently by the WordPress folks):
That is a protected vernal pool located at 9330 Hillery Drive in San Diego:
It is the only vernal pool left in a large area of homes, apartment complexes, and shopping malls that once had tens of thousands of vernal pools in many square miles. And it is protected from children playing in it when it fills with water. There is a fence around it, walking paths, and even a little plaque telling the public that it isn’t just a piece of bare land that some builder forgot to develop. It’s a vernal pool!
I went to see the vernal pool on the 13th, just after 1½ inches of rain had fallen in five hours. The pool had just started to shows signs of water ponding:
Of course, now that I know where it is and how easy it is to get to, I’ll be visiting it several times throughout our upcoming rainy season.
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Posted on December 16, 2012, in Mother & Father Nature, Out & About, Photos and tagged san diego vernal pools. Bookmark the permalink. 25 Comments.
Thanks again for stopping by at my blog!
Vernal pools…interesting. Does that make the Okavango Delta the biggest vernal pool in the world
?
I don’t know. I haven’t found the rules and regulations for determine when a vernal pool is a vernal pool and when it is a pond, lake, sea, or ocean………..lol
here you go: all the rules and regs re: vernal pools can be found here:
http://www.vernalpool.org/vernal_1.htm
Wow! Whodda thunk? And there’s even a Vernal Pool Association!
So sad how humans greed is destroying this beautiful planet of ours.
Interesting subject, when does a puddle become a pond, lake etc, is it protected because as it develops it becomes a veritable habitat for plant and animal life ?.
Aussie Ian
lol can’t believe puddles get a label now…
)
I cannot wait to see this as it fills up…makes me wonder if we have these here in the foothills. Are these just specific to the mesas of the San Diego area?
I’m on the lookout for them. There’s some in Chula Vista, some on MCAS Miramar, and the little lonely one that I visited.
Thanks for sharing this. So, you are an Aggie from way back. Every thing seems smaller in Texas. I liked your puddle reference. Take care, BTG
Aggie through and through, although a gay liberal Aggie…………lol
Russell, I found this to be very interesting and the last shot I really like, it is pretty. Love that Zoey tummy.
Hugs
Interesting!!
Are you a Texan that became a Californian or vice versa (but just for Texas A&M)? Interesting post. Post more things about California environment?
Native Texan whose midlife crisis at the age of 38 took him to San Diego.
I hate to sound unimaginative but… wouldn’t vernal pools just become breeding grounds for mosquitoes?
No because the little wildlife that lives in the vernal pools eat the mosquito larvae.
Aaaaah! In that case I wish we had some over here.
You are a renaissance man from A&M. Well done. Have a great week, BTG
Thnaks you for sharing this great post with us! I learned someting new!
Very interesting post, Russel. This is a kind of habitat destruction I knew nothing about.
We humans don’t have a clue to everything that Mother and Father Nature have done and are doing.
And that we are undoing! Things that took millions of years to develop, we have dismantled in a few decades.
you’ve a wonderful blog and this was captivating Russell ~thank you again ~ Merry Christmas friend ~ D