The aquatic plant in Clear Lake that has been around the longest is without question the tule. That plant has been part of Clear Lake for at least several thousand years and is the most common aquatic plant on the lake.
The tule is easily recognized. It’s a tall plant ranging in height from 3-6 feet. The stem is round, green in color and topped with brown seed clusters. The tule is almost always found standing in water. They are located around the lake and are a native plant.
Tules die during the winter months and come back in the spring and early summer months. They are a hardy plant and can withstand drought as well as flooding.
The lake’s shoreline was originally covered with tules stretching out into the lake for up to hundreds of yards. When the first humans, the Pomo Indians, arrived at Clear Lake 12,000 years ago the tules were here to greet them. The Indians quickly learned just how valuable the tule was. The tule plant became vital to their way of life. Pomos made clothes, shelters and boats out of the dried tule stalks. The plant itself was used for food and even medicine.
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 tule. During inclement weather, men wore shredded tule capes, which tied around the neck and was belted at the waist. Duck decoys were made from tules. Several California tribes made canoes of tule stems bound together with vines from wild grapes. Tribes located near the California coast used tules to make large and 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. Grebes use tules to build 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. They originally lived on the shores of Clear Lake but disappeared. A few years ago the Department of Fish and Wildlife reintroduced tule elk back into Lake County and they are now thriving. There is also a native fish — the Clear Lake Tule Perch — that lives in Clear Lake.
The disappearance of tules from the lake’s shoreline can be directly attributed to the building of lakeside homes. As homes were built along the shoreline homeowners wanted a better view of the lake and dug up the tules in front of their residences. Where there were once miles and miles of tules now there are only small bunches here and there.
Clear Lake is famous for its outstanding bass fishing and one reason bass thrive in the lake is because of the protection the tules afford during spawning. The bass often build a nest 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 restored 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.
