1.0The Living Desert Zoo and Gardenshttps://www.livingdesert.orgLT Dev Teamhttps://www.livingdesert.org/author/ltdevteam/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="r2kErOBkvJ"><a href="https://www.livingdesert.org/zoo-news/conservation-news/sonoran-pond/">The Once and Future Sonoran Pond</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.livingdesert.org/zoo-news/conservation-news/sonoran-pond/embed/#?secret=r2kErOBkvJ" width="600" height="338" title="“The Once and Future Sonoran Pond” — The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens" data-secret="r2kErOBkvJ" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.livingdesert.org/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js /* ]]> */ </script> https://www.livingdesert.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/areahighlight.webp1000750At full capacity, The Living Desert’s Sonoran Pond—which homes the endangered desert pupfish—could once hold more than 140,000 gallons of water over 14,000 square feet of surface area. However, years of overgrowth of an invasive species of cattail choked the pond and restricted its capacity to just 10% of what it should be. Under different circumstances, the cattails would have simply been removed, but following federal guidelines to leave the pupfish undisturbed meant leaving the cattails as well. This changed in November 2019 when The Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy issued a grant to The Living Desert through California’s Proposition 1. This grant enabled our conservation team to restore the Sonoran Pond, led by Conservation Biologist Kyle Mulroe and Senior Conservation Biologist Sarah Greely. A team of AmeriCorps volunteers helped machete the cattails and were able to remove the invasive plant by the load. While the unruly vegetation was managed, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) caught the remaining pupfish using small minnow traps. Those few and precious fish were relocated to the Chase Pond in front of our Chase Administration Building. Surprisingly, CDFW found more than pupfish and also discovered 47 common goldfish in the water. These fish were likely the great, great grandchildren of goldfish that had been illegally dumped into the pond years ago. The goldfish were removed, as they are both competitors and predators of the desert pupfish.