Download Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form

Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form
General Information
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Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information
Organization & Web address
Contact name for species info
Address
Email & phone
Communications staff contact name
Email & phone
Center for Biological Diversity www.biologicaldiversity.org
Taylor McKinnon
[email protected] 801.300.2414
Andy Parker, Tierra Curry
[email protected] [email protected]
General Species Information
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Common name, genus, and species
Geographic range
Conservation status
Remaining population size
Sierra Nevada red fox Vulpes vulpes necator
Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains south of the Columbia River
Under status review for ESA protection
Fewer than 50 known individuals
Report Questions
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Do you have high-resolution photos that can be
used in the report?
Will you want printed reports? If so, how many?
If your species is selected, will you use the report
as a tool to organize around the species and/or
publicize its plight?
Yes, we can get those.
No
Yes, especially in that we petitioned to list the fox, and a 12 month determination is due in
Sept. or sooner
Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)0
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Interesting facts about the species
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Additional background information to complete
the species profile in the report
What are the most important messages that
should be communicated about this species'
decline? Please be sure to indicate your
organization’s lead message that you would like
to be included in the report.
Is your NGO working to save the species? If yes,
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Only (sub)alpine fox native to the iconic Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Mountains of
California and Oregon.
Only two disjointed populations in California remain; Lassen and Sonora Pass; two suspected
populations remain in Oregon; Crater Lake, Mt. Hood. Also see information available here.
The Sierra Nevada red fox is among the rarest and most imperiled mammals in North
America. By virtue of its tiny population size, it is at imminent risk of extinction. It’s also
extremely cute, and occupies, or once occupied, some of America’s most iconic mountains.
In 2011 I petitioned to list the fox as threatened or endangered under the ESA. In 2013 we
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
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how? (Optional)
How can individuals help? Please be as specific
as possible.
Is there anything else that governments or
others could/should/are doing to save the
species?
sued FWS to compel a listing determination.
With a decision to list or not list the fox imminent (by Sept) people can contact Interior
Secretary Jewell and urge her to grant the fox the protections it deserves.
The largest of the true foxes, the red fox is also the most widespread, found across the entire
northern hemisphere. But the secretive Sierra Nevada red fox — genetically and geographically
distinct from all other red foxes — inhabits remote, high-elevation reaches of the Sierra Nevada
and southern Cascade Mountains. Unfortunately, this unique animal is one of the rarest mammals
in North America and is now limited to only two tiny California populations that likely consist of
fewer than 50 — and possibly even fewer than 20 — individuals.
Criteria-specific Questions – Please feel free to answer N/A or “see above/below” as appropriate. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies.
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Describe the specific threat(s) to the species.
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Why is it in need of greater connectivity?
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Is its geographic range shifting?
Is there concern around the cyclical/seasonal life
of the species and its interactions within
ecosystems?
Does it have isolated populations?
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Is it at risk of low genetic diversity?
How urgent is the need for greater connectivity
in order to conserve this species? Does it face a
current, imminent, or future threat?
Indicate if there is an associated political threat.
For instance, is this species being actively
attacked by an industry group or member of
Congress?
Already highly vulnerable to extinction due to its perilously small population size and reduced
genetic diversity, this fox faces many dire threats to its habitat, including logging, off-road and
over-snow vehicles, livestock grazing and fish stocking. The fox is also endangered by climate
change, which has already caused hotter and drier conditions in the Sierra Nevada and is projected
to shrink the fox’s habitat as temperatures warm and push the animal farther up mountain slopes.
It exists in two isolated known populations in CA; two suspected populations in OR. Four
isolated populations.
It’s contracted. We have a map showing historical and current range. We can share that map.
Reduced snowpack associated with global warming threatens to subject the fox to increased
competition with lowland meso-predators expanding their range upslope.
Four. See:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Sierra_Nevada_red_fox/pdfs/Red_fox_
historic2_final.pdf
Yes.
Urgent.
Yes. It is threatened by the Bush-Obama administration’s new policy that severely restricts
when a species qualifies for ESA protection based on portions of its range in which it’s
endangered. Even though it’s one of the rarest mammals in North America, the fox could fall
victim to this dangerous, misguided policy, and not win protections.
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat:
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Detail information on any social or economic
benefits the species provides—e.g., its value for
recreation or as a subject of scientific research.
(Optional)
Detail the ecological importance of the species
(e.g., is it a keystone species?).
Describe how the species could be considered an
"ambassador" or “flagship” species to enlist
public support for conservation.
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We don’t know the fox’s ecological role because too few are left to observe it playing any
significant role at ecosystem scales.
It could be an ambassador species for the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Cascade Mountains,
the high country of Oregon and California, and it could be a flagship species for the BushObama dangerous new significant portion of range policy that severely and wrongly limits
when threatened species can qualify for ESA protection.
Judge’s Score for Importance of Species
Judge’s Final Score
Please submit to [email protected], and thank you for participating in the 2015 Top 10 Report.
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies