Conservation Agreement for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada
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CONSERVATION AGREEMENT for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region State of Nevada, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region April 13, 1998 Declaration of Support for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Conservation Agreement April 13, 1998 We acknowledge and support the cooperative efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that led to development and implementation of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Conservation Agreement. This agreement fully meets the intent of the National Interagency Memorandum of Understanding (94-SMU-058) to conserve species within their natural ecosystems. Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior Bill ossiel, The Nature Conservancy • CONSERVATION AGREEMENT for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region State of Nevada, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region April 13, 1998 Table of Contents I. Purpose........................................................................................................................................ II. Involved Parties..............................................................................................................................1 III. Authority.........................................................................................................................................2 IV. Background.................................................................................................................................... 3 Environmental Setting................................................................................................................3 Forest Service Management of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area ..............3 Ecosystem Management in the Spring Mountains..................................................................7 Other Plans and Programs.........................................................................................................8 V. Species and Habitats Involved......................................................................................................9 Species Named in this Agreement and their Conservation Ranking........................................9 Habitats for the Species of Concern in the Spring Mountains ................................................ I 1 Species of Greatest Management Concern in the Spring Mountains.....................................15 VI. Problems Facing the Species.......................................................................................................19 VII. Conservation Actions that will be Carried Out.........................................................................28 1.0 Project Planning................................................................................................................29 2.0 Inventory............................................................................................................................31 3.0 Monitoring.........................................................................................................................33 4 .0 Protection.......................................................................................................................... 35 5 .0 Restoration........................................................................................................................ 38 6 .0 Research............................................................................................................................ 40 7.0 Education...........................................................................................................................42 VIII. Duration of Agreement...............................................................................................................44 IX. Literature Cited............................................................................................................................45 X. Signatures.....................................................................................................................................48 XI. Appendices................................................................................................................................... 50 Figures 1. Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Management Areas..............................................4 2. Spring Mountains Biodiversity Hotspots and Species of Concern Locations..........................5 Table 1. Species named in the Spring Mountains Conservation Agreement and their distribution across six primary vegetation zones and azonal habitat types............................... 13 n Acknowledgments The U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources appreciate the assistance provided by the following individuals and entities in preparing this Conservation Agreement: Jan Nachlinger, The Nature Conservancy of Nevada; George Austin, Bruce Boyd, and Bret Boyd, Nevada State Museum; Mary Kay Ramsey, formerly with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Stuart Weiss, Stanford University; and private researchers Don Sada and Frank Smith. We also acknowledge the many partners and stakeholders - Bureau of Land Management, Clark County, and Southern Nevada Water Authority; and various conservation and wildlife groups, community associations, town boards, mountain residents and commercial operators, off-highway vehicle enthusiasts, climbers, cavern, special use permitees, and wild horse advocates - all have worked together and with the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, in the spirit of compromise, to manage and conserve resources in the Spring Mountains. This Conservation Agreement was prepared by Janet Bair, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Sara Mayben, U.S. Forest Service, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area; in coordination with Butch Padilla and Cris Tomlinson, Nevada Division of Wildlife; John Jones, Nevada Division of Forestry; and Glenn Clemmer, Nevada Natural Heritage Program. Additional review and/or technical support was provided by Teresa Prendusi, Dee Gardner, and Kathy Moskowitz, U.S. Forest Service; and Al Pfister, Dolores Savignano, Donna Withers, and Selena Werdon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I u Conservation Agreement for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada I. PURPOSE This Conservation Agreement (CA) has been developed to facilitate voluntary cooperation between the U.S. Forest Service (FS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and State of Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), in providing long-term protection for the rare and sensitive flora and fauna of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (NRA). Successful implementation of protection-oriented resource management in the Spring Mountains will involve consideration of conservation values through early project planning, in conjunction with an ongoing program of species, habitat, and ecosystem inventory, monitoring, protection, restoration, research, and education. Specific actions necessary to implement this program are described in section VII. If successfully implemented, this CA should provide long-term protection for all of the species of concern in the Spring Mountains, and should preclude the future need to list any of these species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). Should the terms of this CA not be accomplished, and if declines in species status or habitat quality are documented, the FWS may eventually determine that listing of one or more of these species of concern under the ESA will be necessary to halt and reverse declining status trends. II. INVOLVED PARTIES A. U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region 324 25th Street Ogden, Utah 84401 (801) 625-5605 B. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 Office 911 N.E. 1 lth Avenue Portland, Oregon 97232 (503) 231-6118 C. Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources 123 West Nye Lane Carson City, Nevada 89710 (702) 687-4360 1 M. AUTHORITY The authority for the FWS and the FS to enter into this voluntary CA is in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended; the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, as amended; the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, as amended, and the Economy Act. The authority for the Nevada DCNR to enter into cooperative agreements with Federal agencies is granted in Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 232.070. Additional authority is found in a 1994 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce, which establishes a general framework for cooperation in management of species that are tending towards Federal listing as threatened or endangered. Addendum 1 of the MOU adds State fish and wildlife agency leaders as cooperators under the representation of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (Appendix A). Three divisions of the Nevada DCNR are involved in implementation of this CA. The responsibility of the Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW) is for the management, propagation, and protection of species of fish and wildlife found within the borders of the State, and for regulating