RESULTS and RECOMMENDED CONSERVATION ACTIONS
The conservation planning process resulted in the identification of the Conservation Lands Network and a set of Recommended Conservation Actions for each of the fine filter focus teams. The Conservation Lands Network is discussed first, followed by the recommendations.
CONSERVATION LANDS NETWORK RESULTS
Building from existing protected lands as identified in the Bay Area Protected Areas Database (BPAD), the Conservation Lands Network is comprised of three categories:
NOTE that groundtruthing is essential when considering conservation actions for lands in any of these categories.
Areas Essential to Conservation Goals (darkest blue). Lands in this category were selected 80 to 100% of the time by Marxan (the site selection software) because they support high value conservation targets and/or are adjacent to existing protected lands. Conservation of these areas should be pursued since they serve vital functions in any potential network configuration, and conservation goals will be difficult to meet without them.
Areas Important to Conservation Goals (medium blue). Areas in this category were selected by Marxan 55-79%. Conservation opportunities in these areas should also be pursued as they represent habitats in areas of high conservation suitability and are generally adjacent to Areas Essential to Conservation Goals and protected lands.
Areas of the Conservation Lands Network That Are Fragmented (light purple). Numerous areas smaller than the 100ha (247ac) planning unit hexagon are included in the CLN. These Fragmented Areas flag hexagons with substantial human footprint where special care is needed because the accuracy and viability of targets may be compromised by map scale, incomplete data, and/or ecological degradation.
Although not part of the CLN, a fourth category is displayed on the CLN map:
Areas for Further Consideration (light blue). These are areas where Marxan did not capture important biodiversity targets, develop a viable local configuration, or provide within-landscape unit connectivity. These areas were not added to the Conservation Lands Network because without sufficient data, it was not clear which were the most important areas to add. Specific decisions in these areas can be made once better biological data is available and fine-scale planning is completed. Chapter 10 includes a map of all the Areas for Further Consideration (Figure 10.4) and a description of each area.
____________________________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDED CONSERVATION ACTIONS
Recommendations are listed for each of the fine filter focus teams. For a full discussion, please see Chapters 5 through 8 of the full report. Each chapter also includes a section entitled Additional Resources that provides website links and references for more detailed information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recommendations from the Riparian/Fish Focus Team
1. Implement the Recovery Plan for the Evolutionarily Significant Unit of Central California Coast Coho Salmon and the Priority Recovery Actions for the Central California Coast Steelhead Distinct Population Segment.
2. Encourage the development of comprehensive, multi-stakeholder watershed plans that forge the partnerships vital to coalescing action around large, complex issues.
3. Secure sensitive undeveloped headwaters and streamside lands through easements, fee acquisition, voluntary stewardship incentives, and policies.
4. Limit further encroachment of riparian areas by establishing and enforcing strong policies that mandate stream protections.
5. Restore stream channels and adjacent riparian habitat, including the strategic removal of barriers to fish passage where appropriate.
6. Implement aggressive sediment and non-point source pollution control measures.
7. Secure seasonal water releases to benefit native fishes, especially coho salmon and rearing and smolting steelhead.
8. Improve the stewardship of streams and riparian areas on public and private land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recommendations from the Mammals Focus Team
1. Connectivity. Providing for connectivity and wildlife passage across major highways and other impediments is essential for the health of mammal populations.
2. Succession. The provision of diverse vegetation mosaics and successional stages of vegetation will provide for the multiple habitat requirements of most mammals.
3. Fire. Well-managed fire regimes can provide many benefits for local mammals by providing fresh forage and diverse successional stages; short-term effects of intense large fires may be negative, as in the case of the Point Reyes mountain beaver (Fellers et al. 2004).
4. Invasive Weeds. Control of key invasive weeds improves habitat for native mammals by providing quality forage.
5. Grazing Management. Good grazing management can contribute to diverse healthy mammal populations. Tule elk, in particular, seem to coexist with (and to some degree may depend upon) cattle grazing. Healthy populations of ground squirrels on grazing land provide habitat and prey for numerous other species, including Burrowing Owl, American badger, and California Tiger Salamander. Ranches also provide water sources important for native mammals: wildlife-friendly fences, stock ponds, and watering troughs should be encouraged throughout the region.
6. Forest Management. Some mammals require complex older forests for habitat features such as snags and downed wood (CWHR). Forest management practices that develop such features in conjunction with timber harvesting hold great promise in coastal Douglas-fir and redwood forests.
7. Non-Native Animals. Wild pigs uproot and destroy native vegetation, and compete with native animals for food sources such as acorns. Local eradication is difficult to achieve and maintain, but controlled hunting and depredation permits can help keep populations below damage thresholds. Pig hunting may supply additional income to ranchers. Young pigs may provide alternate prey for mountain lions.
8. Deer Overpopulation. Deer populations provide a prey base for mountain lions, but overpopulation of deer can have negative impacts on vegetation and particular plant species.
9. Disease. Diseases transmitted from domestic dogs and cats threaten many native carnivores. For example, feline leukemia, transmitted by domestic cats, has decimated the western spotted skunk population. Encouraging high vaccination levels in domestic animal populations will reduce this threat. Large habitat areas far from human habitation provide some buffer, but epidemics can spread rapidly into remote areas.
Diseases that affect humans, such as rabies and Lyme disease, are endemic in certain wildlife populations, such as skunks, raccoons and bats (rabies), and deer and mice (Lyme disease). Any control measures should be highly focused where and when actual problems exist, rather than wholesale persecution of animals such as bats.
10. Mountain Lion Perception Problem. Coexistence of mountain lions and people will be an ongoing issue, primarily because of fear. Public education about appropriate human behavior in mountain lion habitat can minimize the already-small risks.
11. Wind Farms. Wind farms pose local risks to some bat species (as well as birds) (Johnston pers. comm. 2007), and best management and design practices should be implemented to minimize risks. Much work is being done in this area by wildlife regulatory agencies. A reference for wind farm best management practices is included under Additional Resources in Chapter 6: Fine Filter: Mammals.
12. Poisoning. Deliberate and inadvertent poisoning of wildlife is a local and even regional threat. Programs to poison ground squirrels decades ago greatly reduced populations of this keystone species across parts of the East Bay, reducing the prey base of many predators, as well as burrows used by many species. Inadvertent poisoning of mammals from anticoagulant rodenticides can have serious impacts on wildlife in urban/agricultural interfaces (Riley et al. 2007).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recommendations from the Birds Focus Team
1. Support reproductive success. Reproductive success contributes directly to population size and viability, and is influenced by a number of factors, including availability of food and habitat for nest sites, predation, and nest parasitism (from, for example, Brown-headed Cowbird).
- Prioritize potential sites for conservation according to current indicators of avian population health.
- Prioritize restoration sites according to their proximity to existing high-quality sites.
- Protect and restore riparian areas that are adjacent to intact upland habitats.
- Ensure that the patch size, configuration, and connectivity of restored riparian habitats adequately support the desired populations of riparian-dependent species.
- Conserve nesting sites near foraging areas (and vice versa). For example, Swainson’s Hawks nest in small groves of trees and forage in agricultural areas.
- Avoid the construction or use of facilities and pastures that attract and provide foraging habitat for Brown-headed Cowbirds.
2. Provide diverse habitats to meet diverse nesting habitat requirements. Different bird species place their nests in different locations – from directly on the ground to the tops of trees – but most nest within 5m of the ground. Habitat must be managed to accommodate this diversity.
- For ground nesters, grass and forbs should be greater than 6in high.
- Low- to mid-height nesters require a structurally diverse shrub and tree layer.
- Dead trees and snags should be retained for cavity nesters.
- Older tall trees should be retained for birds that nest in the canopy.
3. Restore and manage forests to promote structural diversity and volume of understory habitats. A healthy and diverse understory with plenty of ground cover offers well-concealed nesting and foraging sites.
- Manage riparian and adjacent habitats to maintain a diverse, vigorous understory and herbaceous layer, particularly during the breeding season.
- Manage or create “soft” edges with hedgerows at field margins that match historical vegetation patterns.
4. Minimize disturbances during the breeding season. In the San Francisco Bay Area, most birds nest during spring and early summer. Nestlings are particularly sensitive to changes in the environment and high survival rates of nestlings are indicators of ecosystem health. Predators such as cats, skunks, and jays can decimate breeding populations.
- Limit restoration activities and disturbance events such as grazing, disking, burning, herbicide application, and high water events to the non-breeding season.
- Prioritize sites for protection and restoration according to surrounding land uses to minimize disturbances.
- Implement wildlife-friendly farming techniques to minimize impacts of farming operations (pesticide use, season of cultivation, etc.).
5. Protect and restore native plants. Native bird populations evolved with native vegetation and depend on particular species for forage and nest sites. Introduced plant species may not provide the same nutrition, insect food, or quality nest sites, and can become invasive.
- Control and eradicate non-native plant species, preferably at the watershed level, so that native plants can thrive.
- Encourage the use of native plants for residential landscaping.
6. Minimize impacts from non-native species.
- Control non-native animal species, including domestic and feral cats.
- Prioritize sites for conservation and restoration according to surrounding land uses to reduce predation by non-native predators or a surplus of natural predators.
7. Restore ecological processes, such as flood and fire, which are integral to a healthy ecosystem. Ecological processes provide natural disturbances needed to maintain the high vegetative diversity important for birds.
- Prioritize sites with intact natural processes or the potential to restore the natural processes of the system.
8. Restore riparian corridors that are essential for many bird species.
- For riparian-dependent species, the width of riparian corridors should be restored to the fullest extent.
- Riparian habitat should be managed at the watershed level when possible, to minimize impacts from adjacent lands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recommendations from the Amphibians, Reptiles, and Invertebrates Focus Team
1. Protect and restore healthy riparian, wetland, and vernal pool habitats, and create new pond and vernal pool habitats where appropriate.
2. Maintain, manage, and restore pond networks, especially those associated with streams. Elimination of bullfrogs and fish will enhance habitat for California Red-legged Frog and California Tiger Salamander. Regulatory streamlining will allow for more rapid and less costly pond maintenance and restoration.
3. Determine the status of water rights as they relate to the maintenance of dams for stock ponds to ensure adequate water supply and in-stream flows for streams.
4. Conduct comprehensive surveys for Foothill Yellow-legged Frog to better quantify the species’ distribution and provide a basis for metapopulation dynamics and viability.
5. Map the occurrence of chytrid fungus, and estimate its current and potential impact on local amphibians. Minimize spread of the disease by implementing best management practices, such as washing field equipment and boots when conducting pond surveys (see Additional Resources).
6. Maintain grazing regimes that support habitat for amphibians, reptiles, and grassland butterfly species. Avoid build-up of thatch and biomass, which degrade grasslands and reduce ground squirrel populations, which provide burrows for amphibians and prey for snakes.
7. Bolster metapopulations by reintroducing rare and even common butterfly species into habitats where they have gone locally extinct.
8. Manage habitat for overwintering Monarch Butterfly to maintain proper microclimate conditions for this target species.
9. Control invasive weeds that crowd out native plants and alter vegetation composition and hydrology in native habitats.
10. Enhance native bee populations in agricultural landscapes by maintaining small patches of native vegetation within the agricultural areas and establishing diverse hedgerows of flowering native plants. The Xerces Society provides numerous resources for native bee conservation in California.
