The survival and recovery of two California amphibians is dependent on the land stewardship of local cattle ranchers in the east San Francisco Bay Area. The California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander occur primarily on rangelands, where the dominant management activity is cattle grazing. Livestock ponds provide alternative, high-quality aquatic habitat for these species and have become vital features on the landscape as the amphibians' natural habitat is lost due to land development and conversion to cropland. Many of the stockponds in Alameda and Contra Costa counties were built 30-60 years ago and are now failing due to erosion and siltation. The Wildlife-Friendly Livestock Pond Initiative provides funds from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, with additional matching funds from California Rangeland Conservation Coalition signatories and other partners, to rehabilitate these ponds for habitat and to provide a reliable source of drinking water for livestock. Livestock pond restoration activities may include desedimentation, spillway and/or dam repair, establishment or management of above-pond vegetation, and development of alternative, off-pond water. Nine livestock ponds are being restored during the first year of implementation in 2015.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.