In California, fire is a natural disturbance factor to which native species have evolved. However, changes in fire management strategies, historical land uses, and confounding effects from climate change have significantly altered the intensity and frequency of large-scale fires in recent decades. The response of wildlife to high severity fire events is still being studied and species in decline may be more vulnerable to such events due to their isolation and low numbers. In 2021, the Mosquito Fire burned through Westervelt Ecological Services’ (WES) Big Gun Conservation Bank in Michigan Bluff, California which contains the largest known population of federally threatened California red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii) (CRLF) in the Northern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. This talk will look at the management activities taken prior to the fire, the steps WES took to coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and fire agencies prior to, during, and after the fire, and finally the results of post-fire CRLF surveys and what that could mean for the species as we look towards a future with climate change.

Maresa Scofield is a Biologist in the Ecology Department of Westervelt Ecological Services’ Western Region and has seven years of experience monitoring and managing habitat restoration and mitigation projects throughout California. As a biologist, Ms. Scofield coordinates annual land stewardship tasks, performs reconnaissance, monitoring, and management activities, and prepares technical documents and annual monitoring reports. Ms. Scofield has been the lead biologist for 12 mitigation/conservation banks and permittee-responsible mitigation projects at Westervelt Ecological Services, spanning over 5,000 acres of conserved lands within a variety of upland and wetland vegetation communities. She is experienced in conducting habitat assessments, biological surveys, surveys for federally and state-listed plants and animals species, and overall habitat management.