Service concludes two species do not warrant additional protection under Federal law
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that two species of salamander, the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders, do not warrant Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Both species are endemic to the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California. For Q&As click here
The Service made the determination in response to a petition received in 2004 from the Center for Biological Diversity and others to list the two salamanders and designate critical habitat. Under the ESA, the Service is required to review the petition to decide whether it contained substantial scientific information that listing may be warranted, in a process known as a 90-day finding.
The petition cited several threats to the species such as loss of habitat quality from timber operations, global warming, and inadequate protection since the Survey and Manage Program of the Northwest Forest Plan was discontinued in 2004.
The Service concluded that the case made for listing is not substantial, and therefore the Service will not proceed with a further analysis. The Service found that threats from timber harvest have declined dramatically and do not pose significant threat to the species. Salamanders have also been found to exist in areas that have already been clear-cut and other naturally open habitats.
Additionally, the Service cited several key protections currently in place for the salamanders, including the fact that one species, the Siskiyou Mountains salamander, is protected as a threatened species under a California endangered species law and that the Survey and Manage provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan were reinstated in January of 2006. The Klamath National Forest has extended the Survey and Manage protections to the Scott Bar salamander.
The Siskiyou Mountains salamander and Scott Bar salamander are completely terrestrial, medium-sized, slender-bodied salamanders with short limbs and a dorsal stripe. Both the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders are found within, and are associated exclusively with, rock or talus outcrops in a variety of forest habitats where moisture and humidity are high enough to allow dermal respiration. Roughly 200 and 27 localities are known for the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders, respectively.
A copy of the finding about the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders is available on the Internet at www.fws.gov/yreka or by calling the Yreka Field Office in California at (530) 842-5763.
