Eureka! Digging for Water

Transition Habitat Conservancy recently acquired additional land to bolster the Portal Ridge Wildlife Preserve and to mitigate for habitat loss of critical species; mainly the Swainson’s Hawk and Burrowing Owl. The primary topographic feature on this new property is Troedel Spring, which has an estimated discharge of less than one gallon per minute. A previous landowner took advantage of this gradual flow of water by installing pumps and troughs on the property to store water for their needs. Decades ago, our preserve manager was riding his horse on the property and rested at one of these porcelain tubs under a shade tree. By the time THC owned the land however, the water trough had been buried by years of erosion and sedimentation.

Our preserve manager unearths a porcelain tub buried by years of silt

Years have passed since he last saw the tub at Troedel Spring, but fortunately Vern has a good memory or this artifact would have been lost to history. It required a couple hours of probing the ground and digging blindly but before lunchtime he had exclaimed “Eureka!” when making contact with the edge of the white porcelain bathtub. Shortly thereafter, metal piping was also unearthed about 3 feet under the current ground surface. The dirt was damp and water continued to drip out while roots reached into the pipe searching for moisture. With a little bit more digging and some plumbing work, this could become another valuable water source for the wildlife on our Portal Ridge Preserve. Nearby water sources and vernal pools are already visited by deer, bobcats, coyote, and mountain lions as well as a variety of birds.