"Tread lightly as you explore Boggs Lake Preserve. This is the fragile home of plants and animals that are rarely seen anywhere else. With your help this beautiful and important preserve will continue to provide the needed protection  for their survival." – From the interpretive sign at Boggs Lake

COBB, Calif. – Lake County contains a myriad of sequestered spots that gleam like gold for the beauty they contain.

Boggs Lake Ecological Preserve is one of those special places.

Located off Highway 175 to Bottle Rock Road, then 4.7 miles to Harrington Flat Road, it contains a small parking area with educational interpretive signs  and a self-guided tour around the lake. 

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Web page, "Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve is a 46 acre property co-owned and managed with The Nature Conservancy. It was designated as an ecological reserve by the Fish and Game Commission in 1998. Boggs Lake is an unusual example of an upland vernal pool that occurs on volcanic substrate. This Volcanic Ash Flow Vernal Pool is known from only a few localities in Lake County. The lake is not fed by streams or springs, but rather acts as a catch basin for rainfall during the wet season, then gradually dries through the summer. This natural community supports unusual plant species adapted to this unique environment. The lake also provides habitat for a variety of waterfowl and marsh birds."

This extraordinary lake was saved from a housing tract by many concerned Lake County citizens and groups.

Another threat was logging nearby, that brought a concern for the safety of this fragile area to members of the California Native Plant Society, local residents and botanists from the University of California.

With combined efforts this area has been mapped and studied. It wasn't long before The Nature Conservancy and the Lake County Land Trust partnered to manage this preserve and educate the public about the biological significance and diversity of Boggs Lake.

Sonoma State University has studied the Western pond turtles here, trying to determine the correlation between the turtle's temperature regulation and the animal's specific needs for survival, since the reptiles are listed as a species of concern by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The area around the lake contains downed trees which have been ravaged by drought and insects. The trees now attract fungi, termites and scorpions, as well as salamanders and newts.

The ponderosa pine, madrone, various oaks, manzanita, ferns, poison oak and Douglas-fir that dwell there now create a unique understory for wild mustard, rose, shooting star flowers and more, to grow and thrive.

Wildlife abound in this environment, and include coyote, deer, chipmunk, skunk, bobcat and more. The vernal pool provides a rest stop for migrating birds. Over 139 species have been spotted here, including pileated woodpecker, purple martin, red-winged blackbird, mallard, California quail and more.

The exceptional characteristics of the vernal pool include endangered plants like the hedge-hyssop that was found to grow here, back in 1923. 

Vernal pools once proliferated all across California, before our state became intensely populated. Vernal pools are considered as a special type of wetland, and it is in vernal pools where special, ecologically significant flora and fauna can be found.

Vernal pools are located in the climate we have here in Lake County, which is considered a Mediterranean climate.

The pools form due to a rigid underground layer which keeps the seasonal rains from draining. When the water fills the depressions, then, gradually evaporates, unusual plants thrive only here.

In some vernal pools the unique ecosystems create homes for plants, animals and waterfowl that can't thrive elsewhere.

"The Lake County Land Trust protects land and water resources of important value on behalf of present and future generations. We work to sustain our county's cultural, historical, scenic and environmental integrity,” according to the interpretive sign at Boggs Lake.

For more information on the unique gems that are vernal pools, log onto the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Web site at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Plants/Vernal-Pools .

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.