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Transcript
Restoring Leopard Frogs & Habitat in the Sky Island Grasslands' Cienega Watershed Decline and loss of native aquatic species represents one of the North American continent's most severe biodiversity crises. Threats are especially marked in the American Southwest, where most fishes are recognized as TE&S, as are increasing numbers of amphibian and aquatic reptile species. Among the most severely affected ecosystems are the lowland cienegas (which are Southwestern headwater-springs wetlands) and cienega-streams of the grasslands of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, which formerly supported core populations of the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog, endangered Gila topminnow and Gila chub, and the federally petitioned Mexican garter snake. Habitat modification along with proliferation of exotic species in both natural and modified habitat underlie the severity of threats to this ecological community. Outcomes This project is part of a comprehensive, long-term effort in Southeastern Arizona’s Cienega Watershed (Empire-Sonoita valley) to protect existing Chiricahua leopard frog (CL frog) and other species from exotic species, and to provide new and restored habitat for these natives in springs and ponds on public and private lands across the Watershed. The project has 3 long-term outcomes, each with specific objectives. Outcome 1. New leopard frog breeding populations as part of an intact metapopulation. a) Provide expansion and metapopulation habitats for Chiricahua leopard frogs in livestock tanks, wildlife waters, and ornamental water features throughout the watershed. b) Improve population viability for imperiled predator species that depend largely (e.g., Mexican Garter Snake) or partly (e.g., Gila Chub) upon native leopard frogs and tadpoles as prey base. CL frog population numbers have been reduced to a fraction of historic levels. Recovery of this federally threatened species will depend on re-establishment of frogs in both isolated and connected habitats in a number of watersheds across the Sky Islands region. Isolated CL frog populations have persisted here despite widespread declines. This project will reintroduce CL frogs to existing suitable waters in one key watershed, and will create new opportunities for existing and re-established populations to expand through time. We have already identified several existing waters (stock tanks, natural springs, and backyard ponds) that appear to be suitable habitats for these frogs with little or no modification, and others where management or structures could be adapted to support native frogs. With coordinated management of livestock and wildlife water sources on BLM, County, and private lands, suitable habitats could be abundant enough in this valley to support frog migration between populations. This “metapopulation function” is key to long term survival of species like CL frogs. Of landscapes with remnant CL frog populations, this is one of the most likely to support such metapopulations. Outcome 2. Elimination of exotic aquatics in and around public lands. a) Protect federally imperiled species in Cienega Creek (Chiricahua leopard frog, Gila topminnow, Gila chub, Huachuca water umbel, and Mexican garter snake) from decimation by exotic fish, bullfrogs and crayfish through population control efforts and habitat renovations where needed. b) Maintain benefits that water sources bring to livestock operators, riparian and aquatic wildlife, and landowners, and recreationists while decreasing the exotic species hosting and contamination risks. c) Demonstrate feasibility of exotics control and native aquatic species recovery in a previously intractable but critically important regional environment - the valley-floor cienega-stream-riparian complex. As recognized in the NFWF Sky Island Grasslands Initiative’s business plan, exotic species pose the greatest obstacle to CL frog survival and recovery. Unless this threat is reduced, habitats where natives could make a comeback will instead act as contamination vectors for exotics. This valley’s large expanses of open space, multiagency collaboration and broad community support for combating exotics dramatically increases the chances for successfully controlling bullfrogs, crayfish, and exotic fish. Outcome 3. Active community support for native frog recovery and long-term monitoring. a) Boost public involvement in preventing new or renewed introductions of non-native aquatic species into the watershed by conducting outreach, involving local citizens in project work, and stewardship by fostering landowner interest in hosting habitats for native frogs and, potentially, native fishes. b) Refine measurement protocols, train individuals, and share a common information pool with partners (agencies, organizations, community residents) to evaluate changes in habitat quantity and quality, and to track trends in target species’ distribution and abundance. c) Provide outreach to transfer methods and concepts to other groups and agencies involved in conservation, restoration, and management of other lowland aquatic ecosystems in the American Southwest. Community support for and participation in aquatic ecosystem conservation and management will be critical for long-term success in achieving outcomes 1 and 2. Community involvement is one of this project’s strong points. Project leaders have a long history of working with local residents and developing positive relationships between residents and federal agencies, state departments and NGO partners. The local community includes many private landowners with history of active support for local conservation initiatives, as evidenced by broad public support for Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan; welcome reception for the National Audubon Society's Appleton-Whittall Research Ranch’s Rural Living in Santa Cruz County AZ: A guide to resources and regulations for country living; and Cienega Watershed Partnership's (CWP) successful involvement with community. For the public, frogs provide a clear illustration of a connected landscape; they demonstrate how the actions of individual land owners have an impact on the whole landscape. Threats and Opportunities The threat of contamination by exotics from surrounding lands continues to increase due to increased human populations in the region, along with the passage of time during which exotics spread gradually. Surveys of several nearby ponds have already turned up bullfrogs, crayfish and exotic fish—and most waters in the Watershed have not been surveyed in a decade, in some cases not ever. The number of perennial waters in the Watershed is increasing rapidly as landowners install more stock ponds, and ornamental or wildlife waters. The large number of surface waters is a double-edged sword. many sites that could provide expansion habitat for Chiricahua leopard frogs, Gila topminnow, Gila chub and the Mexican garter snake—but only if the threat of contamination by exotics eliminated. Any contamination in the head of the watershed has great potential Cienega Creek where control efforts could prove impossible. Control of exotic aquatic species to the West (Santa Cruz River) and to the East (San Pedro River) have so far failed complexity of these habitats and the number of sources for recontamination. This relatively wet area has and a few that could support can be reduced, controlled, or to find its way down hill to in comparable river systems because of the size and Several features of the Cienega Watershed combine to create a unique opportunity for a project like this to succeed: This basin currently supports the only remaining native Chiricahua leopard frog populations in a lowland cienega setting - the former key/core habitat for the species in the region. It also supports the best remaining native population of Gila topminnow in the nation, one of the most secure populations of Gila chub (all federally listed), and one of few remaining populations of the federally petitioned Mexican garter snake in the nation. So far, this creek and its tributaries crayfish that have decimated native aquatic wildlife throughout the West. multi agency reactionary management on limited budgets has where exotics elimination could prove impossible. Similarly, bullfrogs valley has no intractable sources of perpetual contamination. have escaped the contamination by exotic fish and Some locally potential sources have been identified and thus far forestalled contamination of Cienega Creek, have been held to low numbers. Thus, at present, the Existing plans and collaborations also provide a suite of opportunities to establish new CL frog populations, combat exotics, and involve the local community. Public land and wildlife managers here-- Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZG&F), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Pima County--are actively promoting frog and fish recovery under various directives. The federal USFWS Chiricahua Leopard Frog Recovery Plan provides guidance on appropriate genetic stocks for new populations, sets forth recovery targets for isolated populations and metapopulations for each recovery unit (i.e., complex of adjacent valleys and mountains). This project area forms a core part of the Recovery Plan’s Recovery Unit 2. BLM’s Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area has set up a strategy for periodically drying up livestock waters to interrupt breading and spread of exotics. Federal Safe Harbor Agreements for Chiricahua leopard frog and topminnow help landowners embrace stewardship of endangered species. Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) adds yet another set of opportunities. Pima County has adopted a mandate under the SDCP to protect habitat for, and promote recovery of, CL frogs and several other threatened, endangered, and sensitive (TE&S) species. The County manages large tracts of land in this project area for the benefit of native species, including the Cienega Creek Natural Preserve as well as several recently acquired ranches. County holdings protect open grassland habitats as well as their shallow groundwater and cienega habitats that CL frogs and many other species depend upon. Pima County staff have committed to helping with project activities on County properties, including assisting with survey and monitoring work, removing invasives where they turn up, strategically managing livestock waters to support natives where possible and to interrupt breeding and movement of exotics where necessary. In return, this project will help the County meet their SDCP endangered species recovery targets across the landscape. Activities The project’s primary activities can be summarized according to both the outcome they target and the lands (public, private) on which they will take place. Eliminate exotic populations/make habitat inhospitable to exotics spread -on public lands (County, BLM, State): survey for and monitor status of bullfrogs in Cienega Creek and exotic fishes and crayfish in tanks in surrounding Forest Lands. -on private land: listen for bullfrog breeding chorus, also locate potential waters using aerial imagery; document and distribute information to GO’s and NGO’s working in the area. -on both: develop location-specific plan for exotic species elimination, control, or containment (e.g. periodically drying clusters of livestock waters); elaborate this plan with private and agency personnel to be involved; involve volunteers and assist in carrying out these renovation operations; mentor volunteers in monitoring outcome of renovations. Create opportunities for new populations -on public lands: re-establish leopard frogs and native fishes in formerly occupied or newly constructed wetlands in Cienega Creek; monitor and re-establish leopard frogs in suitable or renovated stock ponds -on private land: initiate public outreach and individual communication involving native aquatic species; develop agreements (e.g., Safe Harbors) with landowners and neighbors; -on both: design location-specific facilities or renovations and initiate actions that are useful and agreeable (deepening tanks, enhancing perennial water source such as wells); establish leopard frogs and native fishes in renovated or newly constructed habitat; mentor private owners, volunteers, and agency personnel in monitoring native species in new or renovated environments. Project Team Ms. Netzin Steklis is the coordinator for the Cienega Watershed Partnership. As a 12-year resident of Sonoita who has been active in 4H, “Wild about the Grasslands” ecology and ranching heritage summer camp, and other community programs, Netzin has strong relationships throughout the project area. Her ecology masters degree from Princeton and 20 years of work in Africa add to her qualifications for orchestrating effective community-based conservation efforts. Dr. Phil Rosen has worked actively in research, monitoring, and the design and implementation of control methods for exotic and restoration of native aquatic species in the Southwest for 25 years, including intensive research and monitoring at LCNCA. He has worked closely with involved agencies, especially BLM, Pima County, TNC, and USFWS. His experience in public-private conservation partnerships include work with the Malpai Group, Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, and Tucson neighborhoods, schools and residences. Mr. Jeff Simms is the Bureau of Land Management’s regional fish biologist, and has extensive academic training and field experience aquatic amphibians and reptiles. With 20 years of work on endangered aquatic species in the Cienega watershed, he is the most experienced and knowledgeable observer of aquatic fauna in valley. Jeff has worked extensively with ranchers and agency managers and biologists in the Cienega Creek region as well as elsewhere in the region, and provides a direct outreach nexus to agencies, biologists, and managers in adjoining regions where lessons from this project may later be applied. Mr. Dennis Caldwell has conducted research and management on aquatic species in the Cienega Creek region for over 15 years. He has contracted for the BLM for 6 years for the removal of nonnative aquatic species from the LCNCA and has been actively removing bullfrogs and working on a crayfish eradication effort near the headwaters of Cienega Creek. Dennis has worked closely with ranchers in the watershed to gain trust and engage them in conservation management. He manages a multi-agency backyard frog refugia project in neighborhoods buffering Saguaro National Park near Tucson. Dennis is also a professional graphic designer with 26 years experience communicating conservation issues to the public through printed materials and interpretive signs. Ms. Kerry Baldwin is the Natural Resources Division Manager for Pima Resources Parks and Recreation department. Kerry is in charge of County open space programs, which County properties covering over 350,000 acres that form the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan’s core Before coming to Pima County five years ago, Kerry spent 29 years in natural resource management Department of Game and Fish. County’s Natural include the 100 protected land base. with the Arizona Mr. Brian Powell is the Program Manager for the Pima County Office of Conservation Science and Environmental Policy. As the lead developer of the effectiveness monitoring program for the County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan Multi Species Conservation Plan, Brian directs the County in identifying benchmarks of success and measuring progress towards their ambitious conservation goals for particular target species and their habitats. Brian also helps the County partner with surrounding landowners to promote species and habitat conservation across the landscape and track these actions’ effects at large scales. Dr. Gita Bodner has worked on conservation in the Sky Island region for 15 years, with a variety of non-profits and agency partners. She currently co-leads the science program for The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, focusing on helping managers make better use of science and monitoring in natural resource management. She serves as an advisor and partner liaison for this project. June 2009