Species Conservation

Several parks within the Mojave Desert Inventory & Monitoring Network (MOJN) contain  Western and/or Eastern Joshua tree forests. These species are already experiencing impacts of climate change, including increased intensity of fires, frequency of fires, and mortality. Lowered recruitment, ie. a decrease in the development and survival of saplings over a given time frame, has also been a shift associated with climate change for these species. To better understand these threats and develop management responses, this project will perform a climate vulnerability assessment for the two species of Joshua trees occurring in five MOJN western parks. The overall goals of this project are to analyze climate change-induced vulnerabilities to Joshua trees, investigate recruitment niche patterns and vulnerabilities, determine demographic trends of Joshua tree populations, and produce fine-scale future suitable habitat models that will inform management plans.

Researchers from UCR will collect field data to assess the status of Joshua tree seedling recruitment across the study area and characterize the vulnerability of this life stage by studying seedling survival and microenvironmental conditions. Additionally, simultaneous demographic surveys with project partners will be conducted. This project will help inform restoration practices using updated information regarding species persistence under climate change.

The Sierra Nevada red fox, or Vulpes vulpes necator, is a rare carnivorous mammal which lives in the alpine and subalpine regions of the Sierra Nevadas. Vulpes vulpes necator’s range also encompasses lower-elevation montane habitats. However due to extensive fur trapping in the 1800s and 1900s, the montane subspecies population became extremely small, and in 2020 the USFWS proposed to list the fox as an endangered species. The Sierra Nevada red fox had not been seen in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks since the 1930s, until in 2022, when a remote camera captured imagery of at least one fox. The confirmation of the Sierra Nevada red fox in this region has prompted a study done in conjunction with University of California, Davis, and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park to understand how many individual foxes occur within and around park, and other associated life history traits. This information can better help inform park activities, management planning, and conservation efforts in ways which prioritizes the safety and stability of this fox species’ vulnerable population. This study will be conducted as a combination of CDFW camera surveys, scat collection, and hair snares. The combined sampling and surveying efforts will help provide a clearer understanding of the number of individuals in this area, relatedness to each other and known individuals to the north, and sex ratio.

In conjunction with the national parks service, Bat Conservation International will survey mines pre- and post- remediation in Mojave National Preserve. The surveys will primarily be to understand the use of wildlife in the mines, particularly the federally threatened Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) which is currently listed as a species of special concern within California, and other mine-roosting bats. Presence and activity of wildlife will be documented through mapping, LiDAR scans for certain features, guano sampling, White-Noise surveillance, observations, and other monitoring techniques. The information gathered will help protect wildlife species during mine remediation efforts, further prevent human disturbance, and protect the safety of people who recreationally visit the mines. 

Giant sequoias are a species often considered to be insensitive and invulnerable to climatic and biotic stressors. However, they have shown substantial signs of vulnerability in recent years. Sequoias exhibited significant foliage dieback during the recent drought, and a relatively small number of large sequoias appear to have been killed by bark beetles recently. These changes are unprecedented, and the situation is further exacerbated by recent catastrophic wildfires, which may have killed nearly a fifth of all of the large sequoias in the species range. Forest management and protection efforts are severely hampered by several information gaps. There is not an adequate understanding of the factors that determine sequoia vulnerability to drought and fire damage, there is a lack of information on the bark beetle that attacks sequoias, and there is a lack of suitable modeling tools for sequoia vulnerability.

To address these issues, the University of California, Santa Barbara will partner with NPS researchers in Sequoia and Kings-Canyon National Park (NPS-SEKI) and USGS-SEKI staff to leverage ongoing physiological measurements in giant sequoia groves. The project will address three key areas of concern: sequoia tree hydrology and drought vulnerability, the influence of fire on sequoia drought vulnerability and mortality risk, and drought interactions with beetle risks to giant sequoias. 

The Sierra Nevada Yellow Legged Frog (SNYLF) is federally recognized as an endangered species. To support declining SNYLF populations, translocation and reintroduction methods can be implemented. However, habitat characteristics and the threat of predation may influence the success of these methods across different sites. For example, small, newly introduced SNYLF populations are particularly vulnerable to otter predation. To inform optimal site selection for translocation and/or reintroduction, this project seeks to determine where otters are present or likely to be present in high mountain lakes of Yosemite National Park. This project will use camera traps, otter scat surveys, and environmental DNA as detection methods. This data will then be used to develop and test a model that predicts the likelihood of otters at sites throughout Yosemite. These findings will help inform managers of the risk of failed SNYLF reestablishment, saving time and reducing costs.