U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Rana chiricahuensis) Final Recovery Plan April 2007 CHIRICAHUA LEOPARD FROG (Rana chiricahuensis) RECOVERY PLAN Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Albuquerque, New Mexico DISCLAIMER Recovery plans delineate reasonable actions that are believed to be required to recover and/or protect listed species. Plans are published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and are sometimes prepared with the assistance of recovery teams, contractors, state agencies, and others. Objectives will be attained and any necessary funds made available subject to budgetary and other constraints affecting the parties involved, as well as the need to address other priorities. Recovery plans do not necessarily represent the views nor the official positions or approval of any individuals or agencies involved in the plan formulation, other than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They represent the official position of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only after they have been signed by the Regional Director, or Director, as approved. Approved recovery plans are subject to modification as dictated by new findings, changes in species status, and the completion of recovery tasks. Literature citation of this document should read as follows: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2007. Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Rana chiricahuensis) Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwest Region, Albuquerque, NM. 149 pp. + Appendices A-M. Additional copies may be obtained from: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arizona Ecological Services Field Office Southwest Region 2321 West Royal Palm Road, Suite 103 500 Gold Avenue, S.W. Phoenix, Arizona 85303 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 On-line: http://www.fws.gov/arizonaes and http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ ii PLAN PREPARATION This recovery plan was developed by the Chiricahua Leopard Frog Recovery Team. The Team is composed of a Technical Subgroup and three Stakeholders Subgroups (West-Central New Mexico, Southeastern Arizona/Southwestern New Mexico, and Mogollon Rim). The Technical Subgroup provided expertise in amphibian biology, hydrology, forest management, captive care and amphibian diseases, and conservation biology. The Stakeholders Subgroups kept the process grounded in the logistical realities of on-the-ground implementation. All subgroup members had the opportunity to contribute to this recovery plan, and many took advantage of that opportunity over the 18 months of meetings and workshops that resulted in this document. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service thanks all recovery team subgroup members (see “LIST OF CONTACTS”), particularly the subgroup leaders or mediators: Mike Sredl and Randy Jennings (Co-leads for the Technical Subgroup), Anna Magoffin and Ron Bemis (Leaders/Mediators for the Southeastern Arizona/Southwestern New Mexico Stakeholders), Ben Brown (Leader for the West-Central New Mexico Stakeholders), and Cecelia Overby and Terry Myers (Leaders for the Mogollon Rim Stakeholders). Kevin Wright, Ross Humphreys, Doug Powers, and Jony Cockman served as liaisons between subgroups. We also thank our external liaisons: Cynthia Dale (White Mountain Apache Tribe), Stefanie White and Tianna Thompson (San Carlos Apache Tribe), and Eduardo Lopez and Rafaela Paredes (Instituto del Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora – IMADES, currently known as CEDES - La Comisión de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora), as well as our internal liaisons: Jim Rorabaugh (also an editor on the plan), Melissa Kreutzian, Eileen Everett, Tracy (Scheffler) Melbihess, Marty Tuegel, Rawles Williams, and Patricia Zenone. Susi MacVean translated the Executive Summary into Spanish. Dennis Caldwell of the Southeastern Arizona/Southwestern New Mexico Stakeholders Subgroup provided the art for the recovery plan. Jim Rorabaugh provided several photographs, including the Chiricahua leopard frog image on the inside cover page. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Current Status: The Chiricahua leopard frog is federally listed as threatened without critical habitat. The species’ recovery priority number is 2C, which indicates a high degree of threat, a high potential for recovery, and a taxonomic classification as a species. A special rule exempts operation and maintenance of livestock tanks on non-Federal lands from the Section 9 take prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act. The species occurs at elevations of 3,281 to 8,890 feet in central and southeastern Arizona, west-central and southwestern New Mexico, and the sky islands and Sierra Madre Occidental of northeastern Sonora and western Chihuahua, Mexico. The range of the species is split into two disjunct parts - northern populations along the Mogollon Rim in Arizona east into the mountains of west-central New Mexico, and southern populations in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Mexico. Genetic analysis suggests the northern populations may be an undescribed, distinct species. Habitat Requirements and Limiting Factors: The Chiricahua leopard frog is an inhabitant of montane and river valley cienegas, springs, pools, cattle tanks, lakes, reservoirs, streams, and rivers. It is a habitat generalist that historically was found in a variety of aquatic habitat types, but is now limited to the comparatively few aquatic systems that support few or no non-native predators (e.g. American bullfrogs, fishes, and crayfishes). The species also requires permanent or semi-permanent pools for breeding, water characterized by low levels of contaminants and moderate pH, and may be excluded or exhibit periodic die-offs where a pathogenic chytridiomycete fungus is present. Threats to this species include predation by non-native organisms, especially American bullfrogs, fish, and crayfish; the fungal disease chytridiomycosis; drought; floods; degradation and loss of habitat as a result of water diversions and groundwater pumping, livestock management that degrades frog habitats, catastrophic wild fire (fire-prone upland habitats) resulting from a long history of fire suppression, mining, development, and other human activities; disruption of metapopulation dynamics; increased chance of extirpation or extinction resulting from small numbers of populations and individuals existing in dynamic environments; and environmental contamination such as runoff from mining operations and airborne contaminants from copper smelters. Loss of Chiricahua leopard frog populations fits a pattern of global amphibian decline, suggesting other regional or global causes of decline may be important as well, such as elevated ultra-violet radiation, pesticides or other contaminants, and climate change. Recovery Goal: To recover and delist the Chiricahua leopard frog. Recovery Strategy: The frog must reach a population level and have sufficient habitat to provide for the long-term persistence of metapopulations in each of eight recovery units (RUs) across the species’ range. The strategy will involve reducing threats to existing populations; maintaining, restoring, and creating habitat that will be managed in the long-term; translocating frogs to establish, reestablish, or augment populations; building support for the recovery effort through outreach and education; monitoring; research to provide effective conservation and recovery; and application of research and monitoring through adaptive management. Management areas (MAs) are identified in each RU where we believe the potential for successful recovery actions is greatest. iv Establishment and maintenance of at least two metapopulations in different drainages within each RU are integral to the recovery strategy. These metapopulations must exhibit long-term persistence and be protected from non-native predators, disease, habitat alteration, and other threats. As a buffer against disease, at least one additional robust, but isolated population should be established and maintained in each RU. A captive or actively-managed, genetically diverse refugium population may also be desirable for RUs in which extirpation of Chiricahua leopard frogs is likely in the near future. These refugia can serve as a source of animals for establishment and augmentation projects, for contingency planning in case of environmental or other disasters that reduce or eliminate populations, and to supply animals needed for research related to conservation. Implementation of the recovery strategy will be conducted as a collaborative effort among technical experts, zoos and museums, agencies, and other participants and stakeholders. We envision regional working groups to implement recovery in RUs or MAs. Recovery and the status of the species will be tracked via monitoring and annual reporting through the working groups. Research recommended herein will provide the information needed to ensure the recovery strategy is as effective as possible. Working groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will evaluate research results and revise or update this recovery plan as appropriate. Recovery Criteria: The Chiricahua leopard frog will be considered for delisting when the following quantitative criteria are met in each RU: 1. At least two metapopulations located in different drainages (defined here as USGS 10-digit Hydrologic Units) plus at least one isolated and robust population in each RU exhibit long- term persistence and stability (even though local populations may go extinct in metapopulations) as demonstrated by a scientifically acceptable population