By Michelle O Evans ~
I was walking through the preserve one day in the beginning of a bright afternoon. The ground got softer and mushy as I got closer to the shore of the marsh. It was such a lovely sight. The ducks were paddling in a shallow end, and nearer me was a black bird with a red wing sticking its beak into the murky mud to find insects. As I felt the serenity of the moment, a multilayered question came to my mind. Why is there a vernal marsh in the middle of Torrance and why does a marsh remind me of a swamp?
When I was in elementary school there was a drought, and I remember being told that southern California is more like a desert, so a marsh shouldn’t be here. How can both these things exist? Apparently there is more to Southern California than I was told. The deserts of California are on the eastern side of our coastal mountains and encompass parts of Los Angeles County, San Diego County and some other notable places. However, closer to the coastal region Cali’s climate is drastically different.
For thousands of years, depressions in the land have collected water from rainfall during the winter and spring. Because these depressions are on top of hard bedrock or other thick Adobe soil, the water sinks into the ground very slowly. The water sits in a pool or marsh until it slowly seeps into the ground and eventually the soil dries out. Before humans over developed the land, these wetlands stretched from Humboldt to San Diego.
I suppose the marsh reminds me of a swamp because the water looks similar—the difference comes down to vegetation. A vernal marsh has more grasses and reeds. When I have visited swamp lands, I have seen more shrubs. Plus a swamp land does not dry up in the summer like a vernal marsh. I could imagine the beauty of the marsh lands and vernal pools of California filled with tall grasses and herons resting on their immigration journey, while frogs sing among the tall mulefat grasses. The marsh is my glimpse into that old world and a constant reminder of what our world could become again.
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