Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.2. Locality records of Eubranchipus species in California. LEGEND • Eubranchipus serratus * Eubranchipus bundyi • Eubranchipus oregonus Tf ' miles 0 50 100 T 1 1 1—i— 0 50 100 kilometers 118 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.4. Locality records of Branchinecta coloradensis in California. LEGEND • Branchinecta coloradensis miles 0 50 100 T I r- —i— 0 50 100 kilometers 120 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.5. Locality records of Branchinecta dissimilis and B. longiantenna in California. C 0(0 r^dU*. .5.' 7 LEGEND • Branchinecta dissimilis A Branchinecta longiantenna miles 0 50 10i0 0 50 100 kilometers 121 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.6. Locality records of Branchinecta conservatio and B. gigas in California. miles 0 0 50 100 kilometers 122 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.7. Locality records of Linderiella spe- cies in California. r .35*5.... Sacramento —I—) \ County 1.-/ V\ LEGEND • Linderiella occidentalis T ^-h; J- • Linderiella santarosae IX o V r- V. V Cv X ^ v \ -V T" ••V X" miles 0 100 T 0 50 100 kilometers 123 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.8. Locality records of Branchinecta sp. and B. sandiegonensis in California. LEGEND • midvalley fairy shrimp • Branchinecta sandiegonensis miles 0 0 50 100 kilometers 124 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.9. Locality records of Branchinecta lynchi in California. 0 50 100 kilometers 125 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species Map 5.10. Locality records of Branchinecta lindahli in California. 1 —r 0 50 100 kilometers 126 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species 127 Ch. 5. Natural history of California species 128 Chapter 6 STATUS, INCLUDING ENDANGERMENT, AND CONSERVATION The degree of threat facing any particular fairy normally have maintained the species' only home, shrimp species is directly related to the extent of Mono Lake. The result was a gradual lowering of its range and desirability of its habitat for conver- the lake's level and, at its extreme, an approxi- sion to human uses that are destructive to seasonal mate doubling of its salt content. For a number of wetlands. Widespread species which live in high reasons, including the fact that increasing salinity mountain pools or periodically inundated basins began to reduce the reproductive rate of A. mon- in the most inhospitable reaches of desert land- ica, the Federal Government designated Mono scapes are the fortunate ones. They tend to enjoy Basin a National Scenic Area, and the courts or- the obscurity and security of never making it onto dered the rewatering of Mono Lake's inlet the list of threatened or endangered species. streams, and thus the lake itself. Now that the Cases in point are a number of California's rare, future looks better for Mono Lake and its inhabi- though not endemic, fairy shrimps and include tants, pursuing endangered status for Artemia Branchinecta campestris, B. gigas, Eubranchipus monica has been put on hold. bundyi, E. oregonus, Streptocephalus dorothae, With regard to Branchinecta sandiegonensis and S. texanus. On the other hand, Branchinecta and its living sites, careful studies of old maps conservatio, Branchinecta longiantenna, Branchi- revealed that by the mid-1980s over 97% of ver- necta sandiegonensis, and Streptocephalus woot- nal-pool habitat in San Diego County had been toni, which have limited ranges within land forms destroyed by development (Bauder 1986). With highly desirable for agriculture and urban devel- its range restricted to coastal mesas of San Diego opment, hold the dubious distinction of having County and small sections of Orange County and their names emblazoned on the U.S. Fish and northern Baja California, Mexico, it was clear that Wildlife Service's roster of endangered animals. B. sandiegonensis was in serious trouble, thus its The larger range and broader ecological scope of Federal listing as endangered. Survival of this Branchinecta lynchi resulted in it being assigned species depends on the outcome of actions, large to the threatened category. Strong political op- and small, of agencies and individuals. The larg- position kept Artemia monica off the Federal En- est is the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's pro- dangered Species List long enough for a resolu- posed San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. A tion of the water needs of its habitat to be worked high-priority goal of this proposal is to "protect out, and delayed the listing of Branchinecta the remaining vernal pool habitat". A smaller sandiegonensis until February of 1997 (Federal action is the relocation of soils from a vernal pool Register 1997). on an Albertson's Supermarket construction site The intrigue swirling around Artemia monica to the safety of a basin created on the campus of and its habitat is interesting indeed. The story Mt. Woodson School in Ramona, California. began in the forties with the initial diversions of These efforts were spearheaded by Alisha Pentis, a water to Los Angeles from the supplies that would Mt. Woodson School student and Science Club 129 Ch. 6. Conservation issues member, with the aid of her environmental- Colleges. One pool created for Branchinecta activist parents. Thanks to those involved, this mackini lost its alkali chemicals after about five reconstructed vernal pool will continue to provide years, and, as a result, the population ceased to hands-on learning experiences for students at the exist. Other pools seemed to suffice for Strepto- school and, we hope, remain a continuing home cephalus woottoni and Branchinecta lindahli as for a once doomed population of B. sandiegonen- long as plentiful and sequential precipitation put sis. run-off water in their basins. During a time of We use the word "hope" because building a insufficient rain, tap water was added to maintain basin and filling it with tap water is one thing, the pools; it killed the fairy shrimps. Particularly making it work long-term is another. A pool is in the Central Valley, where California Vernal truly a complex place, and humans know and un- Pools are unique because of their endemic plants, derstand few of those complexities! Although we now know the flora will not survive unless some pools made for purposes of mitigation seem native bees which pollinate those specific plants to have functioned for a few years, there are many are found on immediately adjacent land. The rea- which have ultimately failed. One case in point son for the latter truth is that, unlike honeybees, was spread across several pages of the July 10, these bees fly only short distances. Suffice it to 1995 edition of the LA. Times (Miller 1995). The say, that constructing a basin which merely im- article noted that CalTrans threw nearly a million pounds water probably provides few of the ne- dollars at creating an 18-acre wetland near the cessities, let alone amenities, required by the bevy southern California town of Moorepark. After a of organisms inhabiting specific life-giving pools. time, they found that sediment build-up would Returning to the real world of real pools, The eliminate the wetland in 20 years. Their scientist Nature Conservancy provides protected habitat for in charge, Paul Caron, was quoted as saying "Like three of the five Federally-listed fairy shrimps, all most biologists in the state and nation, I firmly California species. The type locality for Bran- believe that creating wetlands should be a last- chinecta conservatio is the large Olcott Pond, a ditch alternative. A lot of people seem to think vernal pool on the Jepson Prairie Preserve. Addi- it's easy to do. But it is extremely detailed and tional populations swim in protected habitats on complex." The problem for society and the future, the Vina Plains Preserve. Branchinecta lynchi though, lies in his comment that "Our obligation may also be found living on the latter preserve, to this project is essentially over.... We've satis- but in separate, typically smaller, basins. In addi- fied our mitigation requirements". Our shorthand tion, B. lynchi dwells unmolested, except by nor- for such remarks is that knowledgeable individu- mal ecological pressures, in pools at the Conser- als are concerned about long-term outcomes, vancy's Santa Rosa Plateau Preserve, and possibly while agencies, businesses, governments, and on the Carrizo Plain Preserve as well. Basins in landowners all too often involve themselves with the latter swatch of land also give protection to short-term solutions that suffice only to relieve one of California's rarest fairy shrimps, their responsibilities if not their consciences. Branchinecta longiantenna. But the rarest of A final important thought is that a pool is not them all, Linderiella santarosae, is saved from an entity unto itself. Substantiating evidence is being listed as an endangered species because its gained from experiences, particularly on the Ber- entire range is contained within The Nature Con- nard Biological Field Station of The Claremont servancy's Santa Rosa Plateau Preserve. 130 Ch. 6. Conservation issues The same three federally listed species that addition to development, invasive species often find sanctuary on The Nature Conservancy lands endanger native wildlife, including fairy shrimps. are also found in vernal pools at a number of Na- Foreign annual grasses, and even native vegeta- tional Wildlife Refuges. These include Kesterson tion, threaten vernal pool habitats by ultimately NWR for B. longiantenna-, Sacramento NWR, San choking them with accumulated plant litter if it is Luis NWR, Kesterson NWR, and Arena Plains not harvested or removed by herbivores. Barry NWR for B. conservatio-, and all the above ref- (undated) presents photographic evidence support- uges, in addition to the Pixley NWR, for B.