|
Map Satellite Along the southern border of the upper part of Clear Lake there is a series of more-or-less-connected freshwater marshes extending in a general east-west direction for some 6 kilometers (4 miles) from Manning Creek to Quercus Point. A number of creeks and sloughs are found in the area, and there are several points where the marsh is broken by points of higher land or fill.
Cattails, Typha latifolia, and tules, Scirpus sp., are the dominants, with numerous other species present including several umbrella sedges, Cyperus spp., and cottonwood, Populus fremontii.
This area is particularly important as spawning and nursery grounds for a number of fish of the Lake. A variety of bird species breeds here, including several hundred Western grebes, Aechmophorus occidentalis (this population was severely reduced during the 1947-59 DDD gnat "control" measures), the pied-billed grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, night herons, Nycticorax nycticorax, and American bitterns, Botaurus lentiginosus. Four of the five resident blackbirds on the continent have been observed feeding here simultaneously, the yellow-headed, Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, red-winged, Agelaius phoeniceus, tricolored, Agelaius tricolor, and Brewer's, Euphagus cyanocephalus.
Among the numerous mammals found here are mink, Mustela vison, and muskrat, Ondatra zibethica.
The marsh is on Quaternary alluvium.
Integrity: Portions of the marsh have been filled and a road leads to one of the points. There has been some development in the area and, to the south, agricultural activities are encroaching on the marsh.
Use: Educational, research, observational, on public portion. Remainder private.
March 1977
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2008 Steven Louis Hartman
|
