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• Wire Cages and Hard Work Help Prevent Extinction of a Rare Native Plant

  

  Lassics lupine grows under protective cages. Richard Macedo, Habitat Conservation Planning Branch Chief constructs a cage to protect rare, endangered Lassics lupine. Lassics lupine grows under protective cages. Biologists from three government natural resource agencies banded together this summer in an unusual effort to help preserve a species under threat of extinction. They lugged materials to build wire cages into the rough terrain of the remote Lassics mountains near the border of Humboldt and Trinity counties in an effort to protect their target. However, these cages were not built to trap animals; they were constructed to keep animals out. The barren, green serpentine slopes of Mount Lassic, located in a seldom-visited part of Six Rivers National Forest, are home to one of California’s rarest plants: the Lassics lupine (Lupinus constancei). Lassics lupine is a short plant in the pea family that has bright rose-pink flowers. Only approximately 450 adult Lassics lupine plants were observed during 2017 monitoring of the species conducted by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with assistance from CDFW. Rodents such as deer mice, squirrels and ...

• Succulent Plants Returned to the Cliffs from Where They Were Poached

  

  Wildlife Officer Pat Freeling replanting dudleya. Wildlife Officer Will Castillo replanting dudleya. Last week, a team of California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) staff and volunteers spent hours working to replant than 2,000 Dudleya succulents that were seized after a poaching investigation. The plants were meticulously returned to the Mendocino and Humboldt county cliffs from where they were stolen weeks before. The sheer volume of plants made it necessary to put a call out for help from volunteer botanists. The response was overwhelming. More than 20 succulent experts from the California Native Plant Society and U.C. Santa Cruz arboretum, along with National Parks Service personnel, assisted CDFW wildlife officers and seven environmental scientists on the replanting project. The replanted succulents will be monitored over the next week to ensure the greatest chance for survival. CDFW Environmental Scientist Michael van Hattem calls Dudleya “the botanical version of abalone,” in the sense that they are a sensitive species, dependent on a very specific habitat. Without a concerted effort to reverse the effects of such a large poaching operation, he says, the ecosystem would be ...

• Stacking the Odds to Stock California’s Waters

  

  Working late, Mojave River hatchery staff apply FDA-certified epoxy coating to hatchery rearing ponds. CDFW fish transportation truck at Fillmore Hatchery Acting Mojave River Hatchery Manager Forest Williams at work A hatchery crew releases trout into the Feather River A fishy view of trout planting on the Feather River The beginning of trout fishing season in Southern California is just around the corner, and CDFW biologists and hatchery staff are striving to maximize hatchery trout availability for the many anglers who will cast lines in coming weeks. Trout angling in lower-elevation waters of Southern California generally begins in November and continues through April, to correspond with colder water temperatures that can sustain stocked trout. Precise temperatures are just one of the criteria that must be met before trout stocking begins. Currently, these conditions are approaching optimal levels, but CDFW is running about two weeks behind schedule due to unforeseen circumstances at Mojave River and Fillmore trout hatcheries, two of CDFW’s southernmost facilities. The Mojave River Hatchery, built in 1947, raises and stocks a ten-year average of 340,000 pounds of catchable trout per year. Beginning ...

• Enhancement Projects Weed Out Invasives in Marin County

  

  Native to the California coast and the California/Nevada state line, the Myrtle’s silverspot butterfly feeds on the nectar of the monardella flowers. One of 33 species of birds listed as threatened or endangered by the State of California or the federal government, the western snowy plover is in jeopardy of disappearing from the dunes. in 2017, two years after treatment, the southwest side of the herbicide treatment area shows little regrowth of invasive plants. Sandy dunes along the California coast often feature hardy European beachgrass and a succulent, freeway iceplant, that many assume is part of the native flora. However, these groundcover plants were originally introduced in the 1800s by Gold Rush settlers who were hoping to keep sand from moving to the nearby roads, railroads and land. Today, they are invasive species that out-compete the native plants and the animals that live there. Over the years, the invasives took over the native Tidestrom lupine and beach layia, causing them to be placed on the federally endangered species list. The endangered Myrtle’s silverspot butterfly and the threatened snowy plover are dependent on native ...

• Remotely Operated Vehicle Gives Scientists an Underwater View into California’s MPAs

  

  The ROV Beagle (CDFW photo) Starry Rockfish from the Channel Islands (CDFW photo) Yelloweye and Vermilion rockfishes from the North Coast (CDFW photo) Canary Rockfish from the North Coast (CDFW photo) Lingcod, white-plumed anemones, female kelp greenling (CDFW photo) Quillback Rockfish and Basket Stars from the North Coast (CDFW photo) Benthic siphophores use threads to walk and anchor to the seafloor (CDFW photo) ROV Beagle (CDFW photo by Michael Prall) Marine scientists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE) recently completed an unprecedented three-year survey of deep-water habitats off the California coast using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Beginning in 2014, MARE’s ROV Beagle was deployed throughout the state to survey and record the species and types of habitats associated with marine protected areas (MPAs) and nearby, comparable rocky habitats. Surveys were video-based and provided a first look at the many recently established MPAs throughout the state and generated much needed data on abundance and distribution of fish species harvested from rocky habitats. According to Marine Environmental Scientist Mike Prall, “Many of the areas visited by the ROV Beagle ...

• Bat Week Begins!

  

  California leaf-nosed bats. CDFW photo by retired biologist Andy Moore. Hundreds of bats in flight. ©Dave Feliz, all rights reserved. Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome. US Fish and Wildlife Service photo. Townsend's big-eared bat in flight. National Park Service photo. The last seven days of October are celebrated each year as Bat Week – a time to learn about the importance of bats in our environment. Bats are nature’s best pesticide. According to a study by the University of California, Davis, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, each of these small mammals eats between half and 100 percent of its own weight in insects every night. Some California species consume as many as 600 insects per hour. Imagine living with all the mosquitoes, flies, midges, moths and agricultural pests that are now consumed by bats! In monetary terms, the natural pest control that bats provide is extremely valuable to the state’s $54 billion per year agriculture and $450 million timber industries. The bats’ appetite reduces the need for chemical pesticides, reduces crop losses and curtails the spread of crop diseases. According to the US ...