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Fauna Series No. 1
Methods
Fauna of the National Parks
of the United States
CONSPECTUS OF WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS OF EACH PARK
LASSEN VOLCANIC
Lassen Volcanic National Park, like the two parks to the north of it, describes a limited area of high altitude. Like them, it is only half a park where wild life is considered. It is approximately 16 miles long by 10 miles wide. Complete sanctuary is offered only to those animals which remain in the upper life zones through the snows of winter, and even some of these disappeared in the early human history of the region.
Not only is the total area far too small for any degree of biotic independence, but it is deeply dissected by private holdings which occupy the critical bottomland habitats. The isolation of this mountain-top park is emphasized by the intensive utilization of all surface resources of the lands adjacent to the boundaries on every side. There is nothing approximating wilderness contiguous with park lands at any point.
Grazing is intensive on all sides. Lumbering operations are heavy on the east. The region is heavily trapped. The whole country is very accessible, being crisscrossed by roads which reach up from the populous Sacramento Valley near by. Every attractive locality has its vacation resort, and in the deer season the concentration of hunters is amazing.
As a first conclusion, it would seem that the maximum usefulness is being obtained from the whole area under the present set-up. However, a thorough and fair-minded investigation might demonstrate that boundary adjustments to add a few critical areas would permit the park to become an effectual game refuge that would function in the perpetuation of the wild life of that whole countryside. If so, every landowner would feel the benefits. Already they owe much to the presence of a nationally maintained and advertised playground in their midst.
Vertebrate Natural History of Lassen Peak Region, 27 has given us a scientifically accurate and complete index to the life history and, particularly, the ecological relationships of the animals of this section. With this basic work accomplished it is now necessary to study the human relationship and interpret this material in the light of national park objectives. A few of the faunal maladjustments apparent even in the brief view of the park obtained in a single visit are mentioned here.
WATER BIRDS. – There are a number of shallow lakes, particularly in the northern half of the park, which are the breeding localities of some of the rare nesters in California, such as Canada goose, common loon, bufflehead, and possibly Barrow's golden-eye. Arrival of campers and fishermen during the incubation period means the abandonment and eventual loss of these breeding grounds. This situation should be investigated to determine what lakes, if any, should be closed to entry during the critical period in early spring. The problem should be studied now when an intensive fish-planting program is under way in case it should be found advisable to refrain from stocking certain lakes as the best way to preserve their unusual value for nesting wildfowl.
BLACK BEAR (Euarctos americanus). – Though present in the vicinity, according to reports, black bears are extremely scarce. Mr. A. Sifford, of Drakesbad, reported that a mother and cubs were photographed north of his place in 1930. Though it is probable they were more abundant in primitive times, there is nothing that the park can do to hasten their increase.
KLAMATH GRIZZLY (Ursus klamathensis). – Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale state that this bear must once have occurred widely within the Lassen section, but not even a fragment of a specimen from there is known to have been preserved. This grizzly is extinct – a permanent loss from the park fauna.
FUR-BEARERS. – Trapping in the surrounding territory is so insistent that fur-bearers are scarce. Even the coyote has been kept down so well that the complaints so frequent elsewhere are not heard in Lassen. Only the trappers complain, and they because predatory-animal control in the interests of stockmen has been so effective that the coyotes have failed them as a means of support in winter.28 Wolverines are not known to have been present. Fishers were certainly present once, but may be considered as absent from the native fauna now. Ranger R. N. Book is authority for the statement that martens were common near Summit Lake in 1927. but that trapping in the vicinity subsequently caused their reduction. It is possible that river otters still frequent the park. The story of the other fur-bearers is much the same. They are either gone or are very rare. There is no hope for them in this small park with the persistent trapping and the control work carried on outside.
MOUNTAIN LION (Felis oregonensis californica). – An occasional mountain lion may range in the park. The problem in this case is the same as for the carnivores discussed above.
COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER (Odocoileus columbianus columbianus) and ROCKY MOUNTAIN MULE DEER (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus). – The following is quoted from field notes taken during a circle around the park in September, 1931:
"Hunting is very heavy everywhere outside the park boundaries. We saw hunters and hunters' camps everywhere and many deer hanging up. The greatest concentration noted was along the east side and the south side from Warner Valley to Juniper Lake and out to Chester."
Superintendent Collins told us that deer moved into the park in numbers during the hunting season and that 82 had been seen in one place recently. Our own observations bore out these statements. Thus the park may be in part responsible for the increase of deer in this section in recent years, though the chief factor is probably the improvement in California game laws and better enforcement which has resulted in a return of the deer in many sections of the State. Both mule and black-tailed deer will probably continue in the park; but so long as winter range is not included, their fate will rest with conditions obtaining outside.
According to one of the rangers, there is still difficulty in keeping hunters out of the northeast section, owing to the long freedom of the place which hunters have had. As patrols are perfected and the boundaries are better recognized, this problem will be solved.
LAVA BEDS BIGHORN (Ovis canadensis californiana). – This probably extinct species is not known to have ever occurred of i Mount Lassen, and therefore is not a member of the fauna of this park.
White-tailed deer and antelope are animals which still occur a little further to the east; but if they were ever present in what is now Lassen Park, it was probably only sporadically or seasonally and, on present evidence, they can not be considered as belonging to the original fauna.
27 Vertebrate Natural History of a Section of Northern California Through the Lassen Peak Region, by Grinnell, Joseph, Dixon, Joseph, and Linsdale, Jean M. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1930.
28 Vertebrate Natural History of a Section of Northern California Through the Lassen Peak Region, by Grinnell, Joseph, Dixon, Joseph, and Linsdale, Jean M. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1930, p. 473.
PACIFIC COAST PARKS
Crater Lake | Lassen Volcanic | Mount Rainier | Sequoia and General Grant | Yosemite
PARKS
Southwest | Rocky Mountain | Pacific Coast | Eastern | Territorial
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Last Modified: Tues,
Feb 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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