News Release
Subscribe
 |
What is RSS
|
The Tule Lake Unit conducted its first ever biological surveys at The Peninsula on Tuesday, September 30. Armed with binoculars and field guides, nine biologists and technicians looked for plants and animals of all sizes high above the towns of Tulelake and Newell, CA. The rapid-style survey they used is known informally as a 'bioblitz'.
“As we manage historical sites, we also want to care for the natural resources that those sites contain,” said Tule Lake Unit Chief of Resources Nancy Nordensten, “they make up the historic landscape. The Tule Lake Unit provides habitat for a variety of wildlife. Our survey efforts are an essential first-step in learning which species call The Peninsula home.”
Staff eagerly recorded sightings while Black-tailed Jackrabbits raced between sagebrush and Northern Harrier hawks rode thermals above the large rock feature, hunting for their next meal. Scat indicated recent visits by deer and coyote. Wildflowers are mostly dormant by autumn, but staff recognized Mariposa lilies, fleabanes, and balsamroots from the dried-out skeletons they left behind.
Previous survey efforts were conducted by two technicians at Tule Lake Unit‟s other two areas: Camp Tulelake, and Tule Lake Segregation Center, which is located across Highway 139 from The Peninsula. The Peninsula is co-managed as part of the Tule Lake Unit with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
* * *
The Tule Lake Unit of World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, established in 2008, is a nationally significant site dedicated to telling the story of the cost of war on the home front and the lasting effects of the unjust incarceration of over 29,000 US citizens and long-term residents of Japanese ancestry at the Tule Lake Segregation Center.
Last updated: January 31, 2018