California Fish and Game “Conservation of Wildlife Through Education”
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CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME “Conservation of Wildlife Through Education” Volume 103 Summer 2017 Number 3 Photo by Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences Published Quarterly by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife STATE OF CALIFORNIA Jerry Brown, Governor CALIFORNIA NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY John Laird, Secretary for Natural Resources FISH AND GAME COMMISSION Eric Sklar, President Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, Vice President Anthony C. Williams, Member Russell Burns, Member Peter Silva, Member Valerie Termini, Executive Director DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, Director CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME EDITORIAL STAFF Armand Gonzales ..............................................................................Editor-in-Chief Lorna Bernard .......................... Office of Communication, Education and Outreach Jeff Villepique, Steve Parmenter ........................................... Inland Deserts Region Scott Osborn, Laura Patterson, Joel Trumbo, Neil Clipperton ........ Wildlife Branch Dave Lentz, Russ Bellmer ............................................................. Fisheries Branch Nina Kogut, Paul Reilly and James Ray ............................................Marine Region James Harrington .......................................Office of Spill Prevention and Response Cherilyn Burton ........................................... Habitat Conservation Planning Branch Kevin Fleming ...............................................Watershed Restoration Grants Branch David Wright .......................................................................... North Central Region VOLUME 103 SUMMER 2017 NUMBER 3 Published Quarterly by STATE OF CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE ISSN: 0008-1078 (print) ISSN: 2331-0405 (online) --LDA-- California Fish and Game California Fish and Game is published quarterly by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It is a journal devoted to the conservation and understanding of the flora and fauna of California and surrounding areas. If its contents are reproduced elsewhere, the authors and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife would appreciate being acknowledged. Please direct correspondence to: Armand Gonzales Editor-in-Chief California Fish and Game [email protected] Inquiries regarding the reprinting of articles and publishing in future issues can be directed to the Subscription Manager via email at [email protected]. Alternate communication format is available upon request. If reasonable accommodation is needed, call 916-322-8911 or the California Relay (Telephone) Service for the deaf or hearing-impaired from TDD phones at 800-735-2929. Contents Notes From the Editor ARMAND GONZALES .....................................................................................90 Distribution of Amargosa River pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae) in Death Valley National Park, CA KRISTEN G. HUMPHREY, JAMIE B. LEAVITT, WESLEY J. GOLDSMITH, BRIAN R. KESNER, AND PAUL C. MARSH ......................................................91 Historic and contemporary distribution of Longfin Smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) along the California coast REBECCA S. GARWOOD ................................................................................96 Distribution and derivation of dabbling duck harvests in the Pacific Flyway CRISTINA N. DE SOBRINO, CLIFF L. FELDHEIM, AND TODD W. ARNOLD ........118 Book Review—And then there were none: the demise of desert bighorn sheep in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness VERNON C. BLEICH ...................................................................................138 From the Archives—Nesting studies of ducks and coots in Honey Lake Valley E.G. HUNT AND A.E. NAYLOR ...................................................................142 Information for Contributors ...........................................................................163 California Fish and Game 103(3):90; 2017 Notes from the Editor This issue of the Fish and Game Journal features two full articles, a note, a book review, and an article from the archives. The first full article provides a comprehensive review and compilation of historic records detailing the distribution of longfin smelt in California, excluding the San Francisco Estuary. It cites original records and research dat- ing back to 1889 pertaining to the geographic distribution of the species, and uses data from administrative and technical reports, including field notes to describe coast marine distribution by month, depth, and distance from mainland. The second full article presents an important analysis of the distribution and derivation of Pacific Flyway dabbling ducks, which should be of substantial use to waterfowl managers. The note being published in this issue establishes a baseline distribution for Amargosa River pupfish, extending its previ- ously known range. The book review will be of interest to anyone who studies bighorn sheep, and the article from the archives was actually cited in the de Sobring et al., article (this issue), and provides some historical perspective related to waterfowl nesting habitat. The New Year is quickly approaching and we still have one more issue in this volume to complete. Sadly, we will likely not have 103-4 published by the end of the year but will need to wait until January 2018, which is a significant improvement over the pub- lish date of 102-4, which was April 2017. So, we are catching up. By the way, wintertime is a wonderful time to be with family and friends. It’s also a marvelous time write up those field notes and send them to us for publication. The Department had two notable retirements this past November. Helen Birss, most recently the Chief of the Department’s Watershed Restoration Grants Branch, retired. Helen spent most of her career in the South Coast Region (Region 5), before her appoint- ment as the Chief of the Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. Deputy Director Sandra Morey also retired in November after a long career. Sandra or Sandy, started her career in the mid-1980s with the Department as a scientific aide in the Native Plant Program, which was under the Native Heritage Division. Sandy eventually moved on to supervise both the Program and Division; the Division later became the Habitat Conservation Plan- ning Branch. From Branch Chief, Sandy became the Regional Manager of the Central Sierra Region (Region 2), before being appointed as Deputy Director of the Ecosystem Conservation Division. Thank you both for all your contributions to the natural resources of California. Congratulations and best wishes to you both. Armand Gonzales Editor in Chief California Fish and Game 103(3): 91-95; 2017 Distribution of Amargosa River pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae) in Death Valley National Park, CA KRISTEN G. HUMPHREY, JAMIE B. LEAVITT, WESLEY J. GOLDSMITH, BRIAN R. KESNER, AND PAUL C. MARSH* Native Fish Lab at Marsh & Associates, LLC, 5016 South Ash Avenue, Suite 108, Tempe, AZ 85282, USA (KGH, JBL, WJG, BRK, PCM). *correspondent: [email protected] Key words: Amargosa River pupfish, Death Valley National Park, distribution, endangered species, monitoring, intermittent streams, range ________________________________________________________________________ Amargosa River pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae), is one of six rec- ognized subspecies of Amargosa pupfish (Miller 1948) and survives in waters embedded in a uniquely harsh environment, the arid and hot Mojave Desert (Jaeger 1957). All are endemic to the Amargosa River basin of southern California and Nevada (Moyle 2002). Differing from other spring-dwelling subspecies of Amargosa pupfish (Cyprinodon ne- vadensis), Amargosa River pupfish is riverine and the most widely distributed, the extent of which has been underrepresented prior to this study (Moyle et al. 2015). Originating on Pahute Mesa, Nye County, Nevada, the Amargosa River flows intermittently, often under- ground, south past the towns of Beatty, Shoshone, and Tecopa and through the Amargosa River Canyon before turning north into Death Valley National Park and terminating at Badwater Basin (Figure 1). Amargosa River pupfish is data deficient with a distribution range that is largely unknown. The species has been documented in Tecopa Bore near Tecopa, Inyo County, CA (Naiman 1976) and in the Amargosa River Canyon, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, CA (Williams-Deacon et al. 1982, Scoppettone et al. 2011). In the lower Amargosa River, pupfish were documented in the southeastern corner of Death Valley National Park south of the Inyo-San Bernardino County line (Miller 1948) and in the vicinity of Valley Springs (Sada et al. 1997; see Figure 1). These data represent occur- rence of pupfish in waters flowing approximately 1.6 km northwest of Saratoga Springs (Soltz and Naiman 1978). This study identifies further downstream habitat and reports presence of Amargosa River pupfish 18 river km upstream of Badwater Basin. Though lo- cally known to occur, Amargosa River pupfish have not previously been documented this far downstream in the lower Amargosa River. During 2016, an extensive survey of the lower Amargosa River drainage within Death Valley National Park was conducted in the spring (April – May), prior to dry season, and in October, after dry season. The purpose was to determine the distribution of Amar- gosa River pupfish within Death Valley National Park and to identify suitable locations at which to establish long-term monitoring