For Immediate Release, June 20,
2016 Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity
SANTA ROSA, Calif.— In accordance
with a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service today released a final recovery
plan
for the endangered Sonoma County population of the California
tiger salamander. The plan calls for purchase and permanent
protection of approximately 15,000 acres of the salamander’s breeding ponds and
adjacent uplands.
“With a recovery plan we can
fight threats like habitat destruction that have pushed these salamanders to
the brink of extinction,” said Jenny Loda, a biologist and attorney with the
Center who is dedicated to protecting rare amphibians and reptiles. “This plan
gives us hope for one of our most imperiled salamanders.”
The recovery plan focuses on
alleviating the threat of habitat loss and fragmentation by permanently
protecting breeding ponds and their adjacent uplands through acquisition and
conservation easements. The plan also calls for restoring breeding habitats, as
well as assessing and reducing risks of non-native predators, road mortality,
contaminants and disease.
“Without adequate habitat
protections, these salamanders can’t migrate safely between their wetland and
upland homes,” said Loda. “I hope the habitat protections and other actions
identified in this plan will be put in place immediately to help move these salamanders
toward recovery.”
Although Sonoma County California
tiger salamanders have been protected under the Endangered Species Act for more
than a decade, the Fish and Wildlife Service had not developed a required
recovery plan to guide management of the species. In April 2012 the Center sued
the Interior Department for its failure to develop such a plan for the
endangered salamanders; the plan released today is the result of the December
2012 settlement agreement that resulted from this lawsuit.
Recovery plans are the main tool
for identifying actions necessary to save endangered species from extinction
and eventually remove their protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Research by the Center has found that the status of species with dedicated
recovery plans for two or more years is far more likely to be improving than
the status of those without.
Background
The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is a large, stocky, terrestrial salamander with a broad, rounded snout and gorgeous black-and-yellow body. These amphibians are restricted to vernal pools and seasonal ponds in grassland and oak savannah communities in central California. The primary cause of their decline is the loss and fragmentation of habitat through human activities and encroachment of nonnative predators.
The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is a large, stocky, terrestrial salamander with a broad, rounded snout and gorgeous black-and-yellow body. These amphibians are restricted to vernal pools and seasonal ponds in grassland and oak savannah communities in central California. The primary cause of their decline is the loss and fragmentation of habitat through human activities and encroachment of nonnative predators.
The Sonoma County population of
California tiger salamanders was listed as endangered in 2003. This species is
endemic to the Santa Rosa Plain, in central Sonoma County, Calif., and is
genetically and geographically distinct from other California tiger
salamanders.
For more information about the
Center’s campaign to curb the amphibian and reptile extinction crisis, please
visit http://BiologicalDiversity.org/herps.
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