The Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) is a small terrestrial anuran facing population declines due to habitat loss and a changing climate. Previous research has considered off-highway vehicle (OHV) activity as detrimental to the species, and considered land used for this recreation as habitat loss. However, we have found that at Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA), a 1,300 acre OHV park located between Livermore and Tracy in the Diablo Range, the western spadefoot has been successful despite, and perhaps even benefited from, OHV activity. Park records document that this species has consistently and successfully bred in OHV-created pools and have been notably absent from an adjacent, undisturbed property. Recreational features and compacted soils have provided water retaining pools during years of drought, providing breeding habitat for western spadefoot. Spadefoot sympatry with fairy shrimp have produced larval plasticity, creating eco-morphs observed by differing mouthparts and jaw sizes. Park management actions of banning night-riding and closing areas of breeding activity and sandy-soil areas have protected the species from riding-caused mortality. Through documenting foraging, breeding, and refuge occurrences within Carnegie SVRA, we describe how this resilient species utilizes a recreational landscape and share management considerations for this species on other recreational lands.

Nicole is a wildlife biologist whose work and interests have centered on the conservation of listed or at-risk species. She has conducted field work with the federal government throughout the remote west. Nicole has a Master's in Natural Resources from Delaware State University where she focused on Red-throated Loon winter distribution in Delaware Bay, worked with NOAA on a seabird diet study, and ran her advisor's banding station for forest passerines. She fell in love with amphibians, particularly the Western Spadefoot, when working for Carnegie State Vehicle Recreation Area. Although she no longer works for the park, she greatly cares about the landscape and its wildlife and visits often.