With all the recent attention being paid to the huge fish die-offs at Clear Lake, there is one plant that is vital to the ecology of the lake yet doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. That plant has been part of Clear Lake for at least 100,000 years and is the most common aquatic plant on the lake. It’s the tule.
The tule is easily recognized. It’s a tall plant ranging in height from 3 to more than 6 feet. The stem is round, green in color and topped with brown seed clusters. Tules are almost always found standing in water. They can be found all around the lake and are a native plant
Originally the lake’s shoreline was covered with tules. In fact, they stretched out into the lake for up to several hundred yards. When the first humans, the Pomo Indians, arrived at Clear Lake 12,000 years ago, the tules were here to greet them. The Pomo quickly learned just how valuable the tule was. It became vital to their way of life and the dried stalks were used for making clothes, shelters and boats. The plant itself was used for food and even medicine.
The tules were popular not only among Clear Lake Pomos but other tribes throughout the West. Tules and cattails were used as insulating thatch for structures, matting, bedding and roofing materials. Shredded tule was used for baby diapers and bedding. Women made skirts from the tules. During inclement weather, men wore shredded tule capes, which tied around the neck and were fastened to the waist. Duck decoys were made of tules. Several California Indian tribes made canoes of tule stems bound together with vines from wild grapes. Tribes located near the California coast used tules to make large round mud-shoes so they could walk without sinking.
In nature itself the tule plays a vital role in the ecology of the lake. Juvenile fish use the tules as cover from predators. The grebes use tules to build their nests. Herons live among the tules. Tule marshes act as a buffer against shoreline erosion. One of primary uses of the tules is as a filter for various chemicals and other wastes washing into the lake. There is even an elk named after the tules. The tule elk is the smallest of all species of elk. Their originally lived on the shores of Clear Lake but disappeared. Recently the Department of Fish and Wildlife reintroduced tule elk back into Lake County and they are thriving. There is also a native fish that lives in Clear Lake that is named after the tule, the Clear Lake tule perch.
The disappearance of the tules from the lake’s shoreline can be directly attributed to the building of lakeside homes. As homes were built on the shoreline the homeowners wanted a better view of the lake and dug up the tules in front of their homes. Where there were once miles and miles of tules that number has been reduced to small bunches located here and there.
Clear Lake is famous for its outstanding bass fishing and one reason bass thrive in the lake is because the tules provide cover when they are spawning. The bass often build nests far back in the tules where they are safe from predators and wave action.
The good news is there are measures being taken to protect the tules. The restoration project located near Rodman Slough would restore the wetlands, which in turn means that tules would be planted and protected.
The tules were here long before man walked the shores of Clear Lake and they need to be protected for future generations.