Ledson Marsh is a freshwater

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

Annadel State Park Trione-Annadel State Park is a state park of California in the United States. It is situated at the northern edge of Sonoma Valley and is adjacent to Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa. It offers many recreational activities within its pro ...

east of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * Sa ...

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Located on the east flank of

Bennett Mountain Bennett Mountain, also commonly known as Bennett Peak, is a summit in the Sonoma Mountains of California. Located on the west edge of Annadel State Park, it separates Bennett Valley in the Russian River drainage basin from Sonoma Valley in th ...

, it drains into Schultz Creek, a tributary of

Yulupa Creek Yulupa Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 10, 2011 southeast-flowing perennial stream that rises on the southeastern flanks of the northern Sonoma Mountains ...

Earthen dam

The marsh was formed by an earthen embankment dam about long, constructed in 1930 by a former landowner. The dam is about high and wide at its crest. Over the years, the dam deteriorated, allowing water to seep through it and causing the marsh to dry out in the autumn and refill during the winter rains. The deterioration was partly due to rodent holes and partly due to stumps left by the felling of eucalyptus trees that were planted on both sides of the embankment. There was concern over the dam's safety. A catastrophic dam failure would destroy the marsh habitat and clog various

Sonoma Creek , name_etymology = , image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg , image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009 , image_size = 300 , ma ...

tributaries with sediment. The

California Department of Parks and Recreation The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

therefore repaired the dam in such a way as to preserve the marsh's seasonality. ;California red-legged frogs Because of its seasonality, the marsh was colonized by

California red-legged frog The California red-legged frog (''Rana draytonii'') is a species of frog found in California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (''Rana aurora''). The frog is an IU ...

s (''Rana draytonii''), a federal- and state-listed

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

. Government agencies grew concerned that if the marsh did not dry out every year, bullfrogs might establish themselves in the marsh, displacing the red-legged frogs. Annadelledsonmarsh

Recreation

The marsh is a picnicking and bird-watching spot, and also used for mountain bicyclists, hikers, joggers, and equestrians.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Annadel State Park
Sound recording of California Red-legged Frog chorus at Ledson Marsh

Microhabitat use of the California Red-Legged Frog and introduced bullfrog in a seasonal marsh
Marshes of California Landforms of Sonoma County, California Wetlands of the San Francisco Bay Area

Earthen dam

Recreation

See also

References

External links