EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

A Primal Pond Rediscovery

Primal Pond, Six Rivers National Forest
Klamath Mountains, California USA

Explanation:   Ah, the fetid and fertile pond of life!  This is Primal Pond, so-named by yours truly during my 1977 thesis project exploring the limnology and wildlife use of slump-formed ponds in remote and unstudied corners of the Klamath Mountains of northwestern California.  

The name "primal" came to mind instantly, as I encountered this unknown and then-unnamed site, as I observed the dense array of wildlife attracted to its waters and to its riparian shores -- where I tracked a mountain lion (cougar) and black bear; observed pond turtles, fence lizards, alligator lizards, skinks, gopher snakes, and racer snakes; counted the abundance of bird species including wood ducks, red-tailed hawks, kingfishers, woodpeckers, flycatchers, and much more; and trapped and observed shrews, pocket gophers, chipmunks, deer, deer mice, and others.  

Scanned from one of my 1977 Ektachrome 35mm slides, this image
of Primal Pond shows bulrush in the foreground, one of the emergent
aquatic species along the shoreline forming a floating mat as
shown in my pond surface map.
On the right is a leaning tree, soon to become part of the
floating log flotilla that serves as wildlife perch, access, and foraging sites.

In the top image above, I had created a surface map of the pond showing emergent vegetation, and floating logs that came from naturally fallen trees.  The logs were particularly key resting, perch, and access sites for pond turtles, raccoons, and other critters of the day and night. 

Also from 1977, this image of Primal Pond better displays
some of the emergent vegetation clumps and the floating logs.
A primal visage, indeed ...

My rediscovery of Primal Pond occurred on Google Maps -- shown in the second image in the main panels above.  It, and the host of the other ponds I included in that early study, were not easy to relocate.  My original study maps only showed locations in terms of township, range, and section, and I had to covert those to latitude and longitude, but ... there they were, and there was my Primal Pond.  

Comparing my surface map from 1977 to this Google Earth image from May 2014 showed two main features:  (1) some of the surface vegetation and logs persisted, although the vegetation patches have become rearranged and spread, and some of the previous floating logs likely sunk and new ones have entered; and (2) the main point: the pond was still there, and had not been naturally or artificially drained or dried.  It was heartening to see how these ponds can persist in this environment where summers are increasingly arid, and wildfires increasingly toast the landscapes.

I hope to physically return to these pond study sites some day and repeat my studies of vegetation and wildlife use, to see how they have changed.  But for now ... I am most pleased at this recent Primal Pond Rediscovery.  

Information:
     Marcot, B. G. 1978. Flora and fauna of existing and potential slump pond sites in Six Rivers National Forest with recommendations for management. M.S. Thesis, Humboldt State University, Arcata CA.
     Marcot, B. G. 1990. Limnology, vegetation, and classification of Coast Range slump-formed ponds. Northwest Science 64(1):55-63.

Acknowledgment:
     The photograph most immediately above was taken by my field research helper Douglas Osmundson, whose assistance in this 1977 study was, and is, greatly appreciated.