CDFW Conservation Lecture Series Archive

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) project is a non-regulatory tool that brings together the best available map-based data in California to depict biodiversity, significant habitats, connectivity, climate change resilience, and other datasets for use in conservation planning. ACE compiles and analyzes information from multiple CDFW data products, including the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB), California Wildlife Habitat Relationships Program (CWHR), the Survey of California Vegetation, as well as other mapped information found in the Biogeographic Information and Observation System (BIOS) to create products that can help inform landscape-scale conservation decisions. The terrestrial data is summarized and displayed in a standardized hexagon (2.5 mi 2) grid, and the aquatic data is compiled by HUC12 watershed. All ACE datasets are available in an online map viewer or for download. CDFW has just completed ACE v3, a major revision and update. ACE Biodiversity metrics are based on 1) species location information from CNDDB and other species survey datasets for 354 rare and/or endemic vertebrate species and subspecies, and 1672 rare and/or endemic plant taxa; and 2) species range or habitat distribution models for 791 common and rare native species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles, and 183 families of aquatic macroinvertebrates. ACE combines information on species occurrence locations and species habitat distribution models in a standardized way to show the distribution of biodiversity, species richness, rarity, and endemism across the state and in each ecoregion. ACE Significant Habitats brings together information on important habitats such as rare vegetation types, oak woodlands, wetlands, and riparian areas based on vegetation maps and other landcover datasets, as well as information on focal species key habitat areas. ACE Connectivity brings together information on natural intact lands, habitat linkages, and wildlife corridors. ACE Climate Change Resilience brings together information on locations expected to be relatively buffered by climate change impacts. These datasets provide an overview of the conservation elements potentially present at a given location based on best available data, and can be viewed together with State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) conservation targets, stressors, and juxtaposition to existing conserved lands in the ACE viewer to provide a broad overview of information important to conservation planning and ecological research. We will describe the data now available in ACE v3, and will present example use-case scenarios.

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Dr. Dave Johnston provides an overview of bat mitigation in California including assessing habitat for bats, determining the various types of potential impacts, and mitigating for impacts from mining, tree removal, bridge work, and roof replacement. Dr. Johnston discusses various steps for effective mitigation strategies and discusses how knowing the natural history of a species is often critical for success. Potential impacts to bats from noise and light pollution and the appropriate mitigation are also discussed.

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The foothill yellow-legged frog, Rana boylii, is a stream-breeding anuran endemic to California and Oregon that has declined precipitously in recent decades. These frogs evolved in creeks and rivers flowing through a diverse set of bio-climatic regions, from relatively cool Pacific Northwest coniferous forests to warm Mediterranean scrub and oak/grassland savannahs of interior foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Thus they have a wide range of temperature tolerance and behavioral adaptations to local conditions. As grazers when tadpoles and insectivores when adults, these frogs are an integral part of algal based food webs in the region's rivers. At present, R. boylii occupies less than half its historic range and absence is significantly correlated with the existence of large dams upstream. Absence is pronounced in the southern half of the range where chytridiomycosis has also been implicated as a historic cause of decline. Dam associated threats include loss of habitat when rivers are converted to lakes, mortality when extreme aseasonal variation in stream flow causes stranding and scouring of early life stages, and predation by non-native species when dam-modified flow conditions allow them to invade and proliferate. This presentation will discuss long-term monitoring and population projection modeling which indicate that recruitment bottlenecks occur when early life stages have high mortality rates due either to natural or anthropogenic causes. Techniques regarding head-starting of tadpoles, along with avoidance and mitigation measures to decrease loss of early life-stages are are under development and will be discussed as approaches to conserve this species. This lecture will also discuss a new tool for addressing ecological genomics questions: restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADSeq)

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White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent fungal disease of hibernating, insectivorous bats that has caused massive bat mortality in the eastern North America. To date, WNS has been confirmed in 29 states (including the 2016 detection in Washington) and 5 Canadian provinces and continues to spread across the continent. Given the widespread distribution of the causative agent P. destructans (Pd) and the unprecedented population declines in several affected North American bat species, national cooperation is critical for monitoring and managing this disease. In response to the recent emergence of this previously unknown disease, many agencies, institutions, and scientists have become involved in disease investigation, research, surveillance, and management efforts. Coordination of these efforts following standardize protocols and sharing of acquired information will facilitate greater understanding of this disease and its significance for bat populations and the ecosystem. This workshop will foster common understanding of WNS/Pd surveillance strategies, sampling techniques, diagnostic interpretation, and biosecurity recommendations to aid in the conservation of bats. The format of the workshop will be lectures followed by a laboratory session that will allow participants to practice various non-lethal sampling techniques, approved bat euthanasia methods, and decontamination procedures. The lab session mentioned in this course description was not recorded.

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Prior to 2012 the discussion surrounding marijuana cultivation was charged politically, emotionally and sensationally. One point that was missing from debates was the environmental costs stemming from marijuana cultivation. Unfortunately, research, data or any outside knowledge describing the environmental impacts from marijuana cultivation on public lands prior to 2012 was extremely limited. It wasn’t until that year, when a foundational paper on exposure to and mortality from pesticides found at marijuana cultivation sites in a rare forest mesocarnivore, the fisher, brought this issue front and center in the main-stream conversations. This paper generated national and international media coverage which initiated and, in many instances, forced candid discussions within governmental agencies and communities on the topic of marijuana cultivation and its environmental footprint. Additionally, data gathering on the topic was slow due to the lack of supportive mechanisms to continue this work. It was not until a Section 6 grant by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service administered by California Department of Fish and Wildlife allowed the continuation of data efforts. These efforts not only indicated that cultivation threats to fishers were not dissipating, but clearly demonstrated water, soil, vegetation, ESA-listed and game species contamination from pesticides used at these sites. The collection of this data also fortified a more cohesive stakeholder discussion on the matter. Though the topic initially appeared to be polarizing, once additional scientific data demonstrated numerous affected factions, a common thread of engagement was directed towards wildlife conservation efforts.

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People's radically different perceptions of the tanoak tree (Notholithocarpus densiflorus) have ranged from treasured food plant to cash crop to trash tree. Having studied the patterns of tanoak use and abuse for nearly twenty years, botanist Frederica Bowcutt uncovers a complex history of cultural, sociopolitical, and economic factors affecting the tree's fate and discusses hopeful changes including reintroduction of low-intensity burning to reduce conifer competition for tanoaks, emerging disease resistance in some trees, and new partnerships among tanoak defenders, including botanists, foresters, Native Americans, and plant pathologists.

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In August of 2013 the Morgan Fire burned approximately 3,000 acres of the slopes of Mount Diablo. For botanists the post-fire environment is an opportunity to explore places normally blanketed with impenetrable chaparral and see plant species that have not been seen in decades. We know that fire is a major driver of diversity dynamics and ecosystem structure in many California plant communities. In particular, there is a suite of annual or short lived perennial species that benefit from, or rely on, fire as a part of their life history cycle. This post-fire flora represents a fleeting diversity and abundance, typically spanning 3 to 5 years after a fire and disappearing back into the soil seed bank until the next fire event. Nomad Ecology botanists Heath Bartosh and Brian Peterson used this opportunity to design and implement a study aimed at capturing diversity and short-term successional dynamics of the fleeting abundance of fire following plants. This talk will present an overview of the Morgan fire, their research, and preliminary results following two years of sampling...and they still have one more to go! See an overview of the Morgan Fire as reported by Bay Nature writer Joan Hamilton.

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This webinar will provide an overview of the biology, life history, and conservation status of monarchs in the western U.S., including factors that may be contributing to the observed population decline at California overwintering sites. The webinar will also review current conservation efforts in the West, including habitat management and enhancement efforts, applied research, and citizen science programs in monarch natal, migratory, and overwintering habitats. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Xerces Society are partnering for monarch butterfly conservation on international, national, regional, state, and locale scales. We will discuss some high priority projects and ways that the California Department of Fish & Wildlife may be able to participate in ongoing monarch conservation, including a western states habitat suitability modeling project.

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This presentation will review recent findings on the threats to California native vegetation posed by plant pathogens and management actions needed to prevent introduction and limit spread of exotic species. Plant diseases caused by species, such as sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) have been an increasing concern as new species and hybrids are being discovered at an alarming rate. In California, dozens of Phytophthora species have been found in native plant nurseries, restoration sites, and native landscapes. The first detections of P. tentaculata in the US, ranked as a high priority threat by USDA, were in California native plant nurseries and restoration plantings. Various aspects of the problem will be explained: the impacts of Phytophthora species in California, pathways of spread - including local and global spread via infected nursery stock, current efforts to prevent introductions by clean nursery stock initiatives, the aftermath of introductions in restoration plantings and efforts to contain or eradicate introduced species from field sites. The panel is presented by the Phytophthoras in Native Habitats Work Group: Janice Alexander (UCCE Marin Co.), Ted Swiecki and Elizabeth Bernhardt (Phytosphere Research), Suzanne Rooney-Latham and Cheryl Blomquist (CDFA), and Janell Hillman (Santa Clara Valley Water District)

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California is a global biodiversity hotspot with more than 2,000 endemic plant species and more than 1,600 rare plant species. Rare and endemic plants are of special conservation concern because of their risk of extinction, and they may be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of traits such as limited geographic range, small population size, high habitat specificity, and low dispersal ability. Understanding where these species occur in the landscape is the first step in determining necessary conservation and management measures. Species distribution modeling is a rapidly developing field which uses complex statistical and geospatial analysis to identify potentially suitable habitat in the landscape based on habitat values present at known occurrence locations. This information can also be used to extrapolate potential future habitat suitability under projected climate change scenarios. The rapidly changing nature of modeling methods presents challenges for applying models to policy and management. We will present several case studies of species distribution modeling for rare plants, highlighting conservation implications, caveats, and lessons learned for conservation practitioners.

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