Glide Tule Ranch Vernal Pools

Two-Horned Downingia

Fremont' Tidy-tips

Miniature Lupin

The Glide Tule Ranch Vernal Pools are open to the public one day/year. I went out Saturday and took pictures of the unique flowers. Many of these flowers are unique enough they are not in "The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wild Flowers" I used http://www.vernalpools.org/Mather/tour/tour.htm for identification (Mather field is about 25 miles east of the Glide ranch).

What is a Vernal Pool?

Vernal pools are shallow temporary wetlands that fill up in winter, warm up, and then dry out in spring/summer. They form in depressions, where the hardened earth beneath them stops rainwater from soaking down below the surface. Vernal pools exist in three stages - an aquatic stage (water present), a flowering stage, and a drought stage.

Why are Vernal Pools Special?

Vernal Pools are special because they provide a home to plants and animals not found anywhere else. Many of their plants germinate in the winter rains, grow while the pool is full of water, then flower and set seed as the water evaporates. This forms rings of flowers around the edges of the shrinking pool.

History of the Glide Tule Ranch

The Glide Tule Ranch once belonged to the Glide family. Joseph Henry Glide acquired the land in the 1870s under the Swamp Land Act. He was the first person to bring shorthorn and Hereford cattle into Yolo County. The ranch was owned by the Glide family until the state purchased it in 2001 when it was added to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. The Glide Tule Ranch contains one of the most unique vernal pool ecosystems in the Central Valley!
After all that I didn't actually take any pictures of the pools.

Unidentified

Vernal Pool Popcorn Flower

Vernal Pool Goldfields

Butter and Eggs

Goldfields and Popcorn Flowers

Goldfields

Daisy