Agencies Sign Pact to Protect Vernal Pools

Thirteen federal and state agencies have signed an agreement to improve the process of protecting vernal pools with an ecosystem management approach that is feasible, flexible, and cost-effective.

Vernal pools, pictured here at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, will receive better protection under the Interagency Vernal Pool Initiative. (Photo courtesy of Marc Hoshovsky, California Department of Fish and Game)

The agreement, the Interagency Vernal Pool Initiative, is intended to offer better protection for these unique dish-shaped seasonal wetlands and the species that inhabit them, while also improving the processes that permit land use and appropriate economic development.

"This agreement represents a commitment among all of us who have signed it to work together for sensible approaches, good permitting processes, and much open communication," said Alexis Strauss, director of the water division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who announced the signing of the agreement at the California Biodiversity Council meeting March 20, the day after it was formally signed.

Undersecretary for Resources Michael Mantell said the signatories worked with many stakeholders to forge the agreement, and they hope it will make significant progress in planning and regulating certain resources.

"Besides the work of the 13 signatory agencies, there was a lot of consultation with local governments, landowners and environmental interests to find a better way to protect resources that are of higher conservation value and to expedite the issuance of permits in areas where the resources are less important," Mantell told the Council.

The agreement calls for the signatories to work with urban and rural communities statewide to establish a network of vernal pool conservation areas. While mapping of remaining vernal pool habitat is being completed to help set conservation priorities, the agencies are using the federal Farm Bill to establish voluntary conservation agreements with ranchers to protect natural habitats and also allow for ongoing livestock operations.

"It is important that when these issues are negotiated, all stakeholders are at the table," Secretary Ann Veneman of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) said. "This cooperative agreement will provide the opportunity to develop an incentive-based process that protects both agriculture and the environment."

The agencies that signed the agreement are: U.S. EPA, CDFA, California Resources Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineeers, California Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, State Water Resources Control Board, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Vernal pools are depressions in grassy areas that fill with water naturally in winter and spring and often are surrounded by concentric circles of wildflowers. They provide habitat for many insects and wildlife not found elsewhere. Some fairy shrimp species and plants that inhabit vernal pools are on the Endangered Species List.

In summer, vernal pools dry up and appear barren, but aren't. Tiny aquatic creatures that live in the pools burrow into the mud to spend the summer, then reappear when water forms again.

Herschel Read, state conservationist for the NRCS, says many ranchers have used vernal pools and nearby grasslands for livestock grazing without harming the flora and fauna associated with this habitat. The Agriculture Department's Wetlands Reserve Program enables ranchers and farmers to protect habitat using long-term conservation easements.

Because they are protected, vernal pools often are a source of conflict between developers and regulatory agencies. Brigadier General J. Richard Capka of the Army Corps of Engineers said the agreement will help ensure that all applications to work in vernal pool areas are evaluated consistently, providing more certainty for applicants and affected communities.

Vernal pools are found in 17 regions of California from Modoc County in the northeastern corner to San Diego County at the southwestern end of the state. They are among the state's most imperiled ecosystems because of urban development, conversion of rangeland to vineyards, orchards, and tree farms, and the spread of exotic plants.

Most of California's original vernal pool habitats in the Central Valley are fragmented and in some major urban areas, such as Los Angeles and San Diego, vernal pools are nearly extinct. Estimates of the loss of vernal pools since settlers arrived range from 50-90 percent.