Endangered Sonoma County Tiger Salamander Gets Recovery Plan – via Herp Digest

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 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.

Contact: Jenny Loda, (515) 441-1636, jloda@biologicaldiversity.org

Salamanders' Tunnel to Cotati Breeding Grounds a Success (California Tiger Salamander) – via Herp Digest

By Bob Norberg, The Press Democrat, 1/15/13

It seemed like an odd idea at the time, building tunnels under a busy road to help California tiger salamanders travel safely from their hillside homes to a nearby pond where the endangered species can breed.

The plan, however, appears to have worked, according to biologists who are studying the tunnels, built two years ago under Stony Point Road near Cotati.

"I haven't analyzed all the data. Everything is preliminary, but just a broad general conclusion is these crossing tunnels are working. They are functional, and salamanders are using them," said Tracy Bain, a graduate student at Sonoma State University.

The San Francisco resident is writing her thesis on the effectiveness of the tunnels for a masters degree in conservation biology.

"There are lots of things that fragment habitat of migrating animals," Bain said. "For these salamanders, who go from their upland habitat, where they are year-around, to the pond, the road is the problem."

The tunnels were constructed two years ago by Sonoma County, using a $150,000 grant from a Caltrans fund to offset environmental effects of roadwork.

It was an idea proposed four years ago by David Cook, a senior environmental specialist for the Sonoma County Water Agency who studies amphibians, such as frogs and salamanders.

California tiger salamanders are 8-inch amphibians with bright spots that live in gopher holes but come out during the first evening rains of winter, migrating as far as a half-mile to breed in ponds.

One such breeding area is near Cotati, where the tiger salamanders live in the uphill grasslands on one side of Stony Point Road. The breeding ponds, where they lay their eggs, is on the other side of the road.

"I was doing wildlife studies for a Water Agency proposed pipeline in the area and I found this major migration route that crosses Stony Point and a frequent mortality," Cook said.

The salamanders were listed as an endangered species in Sonoma County in 2003 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, becoming a lightning rod for criticism by developers and growth advocates, who complain the amphibians' protected status holds up projects.

Cook said, however, it is no different than protecting salmon, also on the endangered species list, and tunnels are no different than fish ladders.

Before the tunnels were built, the half-mile stretch of Stony Point Road was a "blood bath" as the salamanders were crushed by cars as they tried to cross the road, Cook said.

He said there could be several hundred salamanders that live in the area, although the number is difficult to estimate because they live underground.

"It is the only known breeding pond in the area. Salamanders living on the other side of the road have to cross to reproduce, and if they don't, the population will start to decline," Cook said.

The 10-inch steel pipes are about 35 feet long, with foot-high plastic fencing that acts as funnels to guide the salamanders in.

On recent rainy nights, Bain and some helpers have gathered at the road, picking up salamanders and putting them near the entrances of the pipes.

Sometimes it takes more than one attempt, but many of the 100 salamanders they found did make their way through the tunnels and back.

Even after they left, infrared cameras recorded salamanders using the tunnels without any help from the researchers.

"It doesn't mean the tunnels will save the species from extinction statewide, but in this area, it turned out to be a good idea," Cook said.

(You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.)