CNDDB News Blog

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  • March 13, 2024
Images/BDB/CNDDB/News/Status_reviews/greater-sage-grouse-near-seedskadee-nwr-by-tom-koerner-usfws.jpg

Greater sage-grouse near Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Tom Koerner/USFWS, Public Domain

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is conducting a status review for the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) to inform the California Fish and Game Commission's decision on whether to list the species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). More details about the listing proposal and CDFW's request for public comments may be found in our CDFW newsletter. As part of this process, the CNDDB would like to encourage anyone who has observed greater sage-grouse to submit their findings to us. People who have questions or comments about the review process should email our Wildlife Diversity Program. The deadline for both data submission and comments is April 12, 2024 to allow us sufficient time for evaluation.

The greater sage-grouse is found in sagebrush habitat throughout two distinct areas of California. The bi-state sage grouse population consists of birds from Alpine, Mono and Inyo counties, while the northeastern California population occurs in Modoc, Lassen, Plumas and Sierra counties. Greater sage-grouse are lekking birds, which means males perform elaborate displays to attract mates at communal breeding sites.

The birds’ primary food source is sagebrush, but they also eat a variety of other plants, including chicory, dandelion, clover, buckwheat, yarrow and milk-vetch. Insects like grasshoppers, beetles and ants are an important food source for chicks and hens. Threats include the loss, modification and fragmentation of habitat, as well as predation, climate change, loss of genetic diversity and disease.

As of June 30, 2023, the greater sage-grouse is considered a candidate species under CESA and will therefore receive the same legal protection afforded to an endangered or threatened species. Take of this species is prohibited without an appropriate permit for scientific, educational or management purposes. For more information on permitting, visit our CESA permits web page.

We need your help in better understanding the status of the greater sage-grouse. If you have ever found them in the wild, submit your findings to us through our Online Field Survey Form. Together, we can help the Fish and Game Commission make an informed decision on the listing proposal for the greater sage-grouse.

Categories: Call for Data
  • January 9, 2024

The following CNDDB documents have been updated:

Links to the T&E and Special Plants/Animals lists can be found on the CNDDB Plants and Animals web page. More information about state listing can be found on the California Fish and Game Commission CESA web page and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife CESA web page. If you have any questions about these lists, please email us at CNDDB@wildlife.ca.gov.

Categories: Quarterly Updates
  • December 27, 2023

Some of our keen-eyed users may have noticed a drastic uptick in the number of records in the BIOS layer named Unprocessed data from the Online Field Survey Form [ds1002]. This is because CNDDB was able to hire new temporary staff who have been busy reviewing older records which were locked away in our files and inputting the relevant information into the Online Field Survey Form.

All CNDDB subscribers have access to ds1002. Since these records represent unprocessed data, they have not been incorporated into Element Occurrences yet, and will not appear in RareFind. That said, if you zoom to a project site in BIOS you can see Online Field Survey Form records alongside CNDDB element occurrences.

Our new staff added 10,000 records from our older records to ds1002 in 2023. These maps show where those points are located. We plan to add thousands more such records in 2024.

Plant records added to BIOS layer ds1002 in 2023 shown as totals by county

Map of animal records added to BIOS layer ds1002 in 2023 shown as totals by county

BIOS layer ds1002 contains an additional 29,000 records which were submitted directly by our users over the past 9 years. Using the Online Field Survey Form remains the fastest way to share your data with other CNDDB users, as such submissions become visible in BIOS the following month. It takes time and effort to do surveys for imperiled species. Use our platform to share the results of your hard work!

Categories: General