FROGS AND FISH IN THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS: ADAPTIVE, LANDSCAPE-LEVEL MANAGEMENT FOR SENSITIVE SPECIES IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. | |||
Braden A Herman; California Department of Fish and Wildlife; braden.herman@wildlife.ca.gov; Justin Garwood | |||
Cascades Frogs are a high elevation specialist, aquatic-breeding amphibian species that inhabits the Klamath Mountains and Southern end of the Cascades Range in Northern California. California Cascades frog populations have been declining for decades. Due to this decline, the species is a California Species of Special Concern and in 2017 was advanced to candidate status pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act by the Fish and Game commission. Three dominant risk factors include introduced predatory salmonid fishes, recent outbreaks of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (i.e. chytrid fungus) and habitat alteration and desiccation through climate change. To combat these threats, nearly a decade ago CDFW changed their fish stocking policies by ceasing stocking waters that contained Cascades Frogs until a thorough inventory of fish and frog populations could be completed. This management shift has had profound changes on fish distributions in the Klamath Mountains and CDFW is now actively managing fish populations through active fish removal and regulated fish stocking to protect critical Cascades Frog habitats in the face of climate change. This talk will discuss the methods, actions, and expected amphibian benefits from this adaptive, landscape-level management of recreational fisheries in the Klamath Mountains of Northern California. | |||
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