WERC Highlights -- May 1999

Utah Habitat Conservation Plan to be Featured in High Country News: What an HCP in Washington County, Utah, means for conservation of the federally threatened desert tortoise in the Upper Virgin River Recovery Unit of the Redcliffs Desert Reserve was addressed by USGS scientist Todd Esque of the Western Ecological Research Center in a recent interview for a future article in High Country News. The HCP provides for the implementation of the Redcliffs Desert Reserve, and research and education about the desert tortoise. The reserve contains 60,000 acres of protection for the desert tortoise and other sensitive plants and wildlife such as the Gila monster and the endangered bear poppy. In exchange for setting aside the reserve, a permit is issued for a certain amount of desert tortoise habitat in Washington County to be used to accommodate economic growth. Esque provided freelance writer Brandon Loomis background information about the process of initiating and implementing a Habitat Conservation Plan in Washington County and the role played by USGS in its formulation. He highlighted desert tortoise studies that USGS has conducted during the past 10 years, including work on home range requirements and habitat use, diet and foraging, hibernation behavior, and responses to impediments such as roads and fences. He explained how USGS research information was used during the HCP process. (Todd Esque, Las Vegas, Nev., 702-914-2206 x226)

Threatened Giant Garter Snakes on Sacramento TV: USGS scientist Glenn Wylie of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed by Loree Levy of KCRA Channel 3 TV Sacramento for the 10 and 11 p.m. news, May 19. Radiotracking a giant garter snake, Wylie answered questions about how the snake was faring near development areas. The giant garter snake is a federally and state-listed threatened species that is endemic to wetlands of the Central Valley of California. The snake was listed largely because of wetland habitat destruction and gross reduction and fragmentation of remaining populations. The snake has disappeared south of Fresno and is rarely seen in the San Joaquin Valley where it was originally abundant. In a comprehensive cooperative effort, USGS is studying the biology, life history, and habitat use of the giant garter snake. Originally found in natural marshes, giant garter snakes have apparently adapted well to rice agriculture, a form of cultivated wetland, in the Sacramento Valley. The snakes use rice fields and attending water delivery and drainage ditches as habitat that provides shelter from weather and predators and areas in which to feed and reproduce. USGS is participating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in formulating a recovery plan for giant garter snakes, and is providing input for the habitat conservation plan for Sacramento and Sutter counties. (Glenn Wylie, Dixon, CA, 707-678-0682 x616)

Sea Otter Declines of Concern in California: In a detailed article, reporter Jane Kay of the San Francisco Examiner, focused an urgent eye on the status of sea otters in California in the Sunday May 2 edition of the newspaper. The article points out that counts of the threatened California sea otter population had been increasing until 1995 but "since 1995 the spring count has dropped by 11 percent." Scientists of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center will conduct the 1999 spring count during May, providing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with important data for monitoring the status of the federally threatened species. Participating in the count is USGS scientist Jim Estes, who is quoted in the article regarding the declines in California. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA 831-459-2820) Official news release

Giant Sequoia Ecology Subject of Interview: At a meeting of the interagency Giant Sequoia Ecology Cooperative May 4-5, Nancy Vogel of the Sacramento Bee interviewed USGS scientist Nate Stephenson of the Western Ecological Research Center for an upcoming feature article on the ecology and management of giant sequoia groves. Giant sequoias, which are found naturally in only 75 small groves scattered along the western flank of California's Sierra Nevada mountains, are the world's largest trees and are among the oldest, sometimes exceeding 3,000 years in age. Stephenson was interviewed regarding the unprecedented failure of giant sequoia reproduction during this century -- a direct consequence of fire exclusion -- and the use of prescribed fire to restore sequoia reproduction. Other topics of the interview included the possible detrimental consequences of global warming on giant sequoia populations, and the rich record found in sequoia tree rings of past events ranging from droughts to fires to ancient supernovas. (Nate Stephenson, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, CA, 559-565-3176)

USGS Scientist Speaks Online about the Threatened Desert Tortoise: Kristin Berry of the Western Ecological Research Center, who has studied the desert tortoise since 1971 and is currently researching causes of population declines, has an online interview with Elizabeth Murdock on the National Wildlife Federation's Keep the Wild Alive website. The May species spotlight is the desert tortoise, federally listed since 1990 and threatened in 30 percent of its range. Symbol of the Mojave Desert, the desert tortoise that we associate with the low deserts of California, Nevada, and Utah has roamed there for about 5 million years. Despite federal protection, this reptile with a life span of possibly more than 100 years faces threats from many sources, such as recreational and military use of lands, grazing, urban development, fire, poaching, and disease, or what Berry calls a "death of a thousand cuts." Some populations of desert tortoises have declined 90 percent since 1980 and are still in decline. (Kristin Berry, Riverside, CA, 909-697-5361)

USGS Scientist Recipient of Prestigious National Park Service Award: Bill Halvorson of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center was recently selected as recipient of the National Park Service 1998 Director's Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in the national parks. This prestigious award is given each year by the Director of the NPS to one outstanding scientist among thousands working in America's national parks. Halvorson was notified that he had won the Director's 1998 Award for Natural Resource Research, to be bestowed on him in September 1999. At the recent awards banquet of the NPS Intermountain Region's Superintendents conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Halvorson was awarded the Intermountain Region's award, which qualified him for nomination for the Director's award. The following text is abstracted from his nomination: "Bill Halvorson has favorably influenced the direction and soundness of research in national park areas of southern Arizona and ensured that the research conducted is genuinely applicable to resources management needs ... His efforts have advanced scientific knowledge about the parks to a high degree." (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596)

Mojave Desert Science Symposium Abstracts Online: Now available are abstracts from presentations and posters of the Mojave Desert Science Symposium at the symposium home page http://www.werc.usgs.gov/mojave-symposium/. This meeting, recently hosted by the USGS Western Ecological Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, brought together scientists and managers from the public and private sectors to examine the status of scientific knowledge about the Mojave Desert. Managers who attended the meeting commented favorably on the relevance of BRD research to their information needs, and provided a list of additional research issues that they would like to see BRD address in the future. The Mojave Desert is a national treasure and one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the United States. Overgrazing by domestic livestock, urbanization, construction of roads and utility corridors, and air pollution are among the many factors that are affecting large areas of this sensitive ecosystem. The USGS is working with a variety of public partners, including DOI and DOD land managers, to help reverse the desert's decline. (Jeff Lovich, Riverside, CA, 909-787-4719) Official news release