WERC Highlights -- June 1999

California Sea Otter Decline Claims Media Eye: The USGS-led 1999 spring survey reported the continued decline of California sea otters. Survey data will be used by federal and state wildlife agencies to make management decisions regarding this sea mammal. The news of a 5 percent decline in the number of adult and subadult sea otters attracted journalists of both TV and print media. USGS scientists Jim Estes and Brian Hatfield of the Western Ecological Research Center shared in interviews that included the NBC Nightly News, KGO TV San Francisco, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Monterey County Herald, San Luis Obispo Tribune, and the weekly Cambrian. It was reported online by University Science and Greenwire. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 408-459-2820) Official news release

California Sea Otters Continue to Decline: The 1999 spring survey of California sea otters shows that adult and subadult groups declined nearly 5 percent from spring 1998 to spring 1999. Spring and fall surveys are done in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Game and the Monterey Bay Aquarium and are used by federal and state wildlife agencies in making important decisions about the management of sea otters. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 408-459-2820) Official news release

Mojave Desert Fire: Fires are historically rare in the Mojave Desert, but increased dominance of highly flammable alien annual grasses has increased fire frequency during recent decades. Interviewed for a recent story in the San Bernardino County Sun, USGS ecologist Matt Brooks of the Western Ecological Research Center spoke about the ecological effects of a recent series of fires at Joshua Tree National Park. The Juniper Fire of late May 1999 burned 13,900 acres, eclipsing the previous park record of 6,142 acres set in 1978. Brooks described USGS research that is designed to evaluate the effects of fire and to develop techniques to reduce their impacts. (Matt Brooks, Three Rivers, CA 559-561-6511).

USGS Turtle Studies to be highlighted in PBS Series Nature: The desert tortoise, symbol of the Mojave Desert and federally listed as threatened since 1990, is one of the featured turtles in a new PBS program. The internationally acclaimed series Nature is producing a documentary on turtles and recently spent two days filming the tortoise research of USGS scientist Jeff Lovich of the Western Ecological Research Center at locations in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park. The program is part of a 4-part series on reptiles (one each on crocodilians, lizards, snakes, and turtles) and is expected to air in 2000, or possibly 2001. (Jeff Lovich, Riverside, CA, 909-787-4719)

USGS Study on Fire Suppression in Shrublands Sparks Media Interest: By examining historical records of wildfires in southern and central-coastal California, Jon Keeley of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center and his colleagues found that fire suppression is not responsible for the rising loss of life and property from catastrophic wildfires in California shrublands. Results of Keeley's study were published in an article in the June 11 issue of the journal Science and have prompted media interviews by National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Associated Press, Discovery Channel Online, The Orange County Register, Sacramento Bee, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Time magazine. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170) Official news release

Weed Groups Pull Together: Thistles are one of the most highly competitive weeds invading the nation's ecosystems. Yellow star thistle infests more than 10 million acres of rangeland in the West. Stopping the yellow star thistle from threatening a rare sunflower along the Merced River Canyon in Yosemite National Park is the focus of the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada Noxious Weed Alliance's Public Work Day, June 19. The USGS, in cooperation with various local and Federal agencies, formed the Alliance to combat the spread of non-native plants to National Park Service lands in the Sierra Nevada. Two public meetings are planned on June 15 and 17 to help landowners control this invasive weed on their own land. (Peggy Moore, El Portal, CA, 209-379-1888)

Tollway Threatens Toad: A June 8 article in the Orange County Register features a debate about the fate of endangered species if a proposed tollway is constructed across the San Mateo wilderness. USGS scientist Robert Fisher argued that the proposed route would bisect the San Mateo Creek population of the southwestern arroyo toad and could lead to the population's local extinction. (Robert Fisher, San Diego, CA, 619/594-8026)

USGS Study Casts Doubt on Role of Fire Suppression in Causing Catastrophic Wildfires: The rising loss of life and property from shrubland wildfires in southern and central-coastal California has been of increasing interest to resource managers and the general public in recent years. In an upcoming article in the June 11 issue of the journal Science, USGS scientist Jon Keeley and colleagues outside USGS reinforce the view that the problem of wildfire destruction started with population growth into the foothills. This position refutes the view that fire suppression in the shrublands of this region has led to catastrophic wildfires. The authors conclude that wildfire management should focus on strategic locations instead of on the chaparral landscape at large. Intensive management, they say, should occur at buffer zones where urban lands and wildlands meet. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559/565-3170) Official news release