Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Steering Committee Members Federal Participant Group California Participant Group Bureau of Reclamation California Department of Fish and Game U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service City of Needles National Park Service Coachella Valley Water District Bureau of Land Management Colorado River Board of California Bureau of Indian Affairs Bard Water District Western Area Power Administration Imperial Irrigation District Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Palo Verde Irrigation District Arizona Participant Group San Diego County Water Authority Southern California Edison Company Arizona Department of Water Resources Southern California Public Power Authority Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern Arizona Game and Fish Department California Arizona Power Authority Central Arizona Water Conservation District Cibola Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Nevada Participant Group City of Bullhead City City of Lake Havasu City Colorado River Commission of Nevada City of Mesa Nevada Department of Wildlife City of Somerton Southern Nevada Water Authority City of Yuma Colorado River Commission Power Users Electrical District No. 3, Pinal County, Arizona Basic Water Company Golden Shores Water Conservation District Mohave County Water Authority Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Native American Participant Group Mohave Water Conservation District North Gila Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Hualapai Tribe Town of Fredonia Colorado River Indian Tribes Town of Thatcher The Cocopah Indian Tribe Town of Wickenburg Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District Unit “B” Irrigation and Drainage District Conservation Participant Group Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District Yuma County Water Users’ Association Ducks Unlimited Yuma Irrigation District Lower Colorado River RC&D Area, Inc. Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District Other Interested Parties Participant Group QuadState County Government Coalition Desert Wildlife Unlimited 2 Species Accounts for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Region Boulder City, Nevada http://www.lcrmscp.gov September 2008 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES 7 YUMA CLAPPER RAIL 8 SOUTHWESTERN WILLOW FLYCATCHER 22 DESERT TORTOISE MOHAVE POPULATION 47 BONYTAIL 65 RAZORBACK SUCKER 74 OTHER COVERED SPECIES 97 WESTERN RED BAT 98 WESTERN YELLOW BAT 102 COLORADO RIVER COTTON RAT 114 YUMA HISPID COTTON RAT 120 LEAST BITTERN 126 CALIFORNIA BLACK RAIL 137 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 150 ELF OWL 168 GILDED FLICKER 188 GILA WOODPECKER 198 VERMILION FLYCATCHER 208 ARIZONA BELL’S VIREO 218 SONORAN YELLOW WARBLER 226 SUMMER TANAGER 235 FLAT-TAILED HORNED LIZARD 243 RELICT LEOPARD FROG 264 FLANNELMOUTH SUCKER 278 MACNEILL’S SOOTYWING SKIPPER 290 STICKY BUCKWHEAT 294 THREECORNER MILKVETCH 297 EVALUATION SPECIES 300 DESERT POCKET MOUSE 301 CALIFORNIA LEAF-NOSED BAT 306 PALE TOWNSEND’S BIG-EARED BAT 315 COLORADO RIVER TOAD 330 LOWLAND LEOPARD FROG 343 4 INTRODUCTION The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP) is a multi-stakeholder Federal and non-Federal partnership responding to the need to balance the use of lower Colorado River (LCR) water resources and the conservation of native species and their habitats in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. This is a long- term (50-year) plan to conserve at least 26 species along the LCR from Lake Mead to the Southerly International Boundary with Mexico through the implementation of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)1. Most of the covered species are state and/or Federally listed threatened and endangered species. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is the entity responsible for implementing the LCR MSCP over the 50-year term of the program. A Steering Committee, currently consisting of 54 entities, has been formed as described in the LCR MSCP Funding and Management Agreement (FMA), to provide input and oversight functions in support of LCR MSCP implementation. Reclamation has developed species accounts for 22 covered species and 5 evaluation species listed in the HCP that utilize terrestrial, marsh, and riparian habitats. Bio-West, Inc., developed four species accounts for the covered native fish species (Bio-West, Inc. 2005)2. A species account was not developed for humpback chub as there is neither critical habitat nor occupied habitat for this species within the LCR MSCP program area. These species accounts were based on extensive literature searches for each species and include the latest and best scientific information. These accounts include current knowledge about each species’ legal status, life history, distribution, habitat requirements, behavior, and LCR MSCP Conservation Measures as it relates to the creation and management of their habitats. Only the specific Conservation Measures for each particular species were included. For a complete listing of LCR MSCP Conservation Measures, please refer to either the LCR MSCP HCP1 or the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Draft Final Science Strategy3. These species accounts were developed to quantify existing knowledge for each species and to identify information gaps that, if addressed, would better inform the creation and management of covered species habitats, enabling the successful completion of Conservation Measures. LCR MSCP research and monitoring data needs have been identified for each covered and evaluation species, where appropriate. These needs will be prioritized in a 5-year plan and will be completed according to importance, urgency, and cost. Other potential research and monitoring opportunities, either identified through this process or by other scientists or conservation programs, that are outside of the scope and purpose of the LCR MSCP have also been listed to further non-LCR MSCP conservation activities. Species accounts will be periodically updated, when appropriate, as new information is collected through monitoring and research conducted by Reclamation and others through the adaptive management process. For more information regarding the adaptive management process, refer to the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Draft Final Science Strategy3. 5 1. Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program. 2004. Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, Volume II: Habitat Conservation Plan. Final. December 17. Available at: http://www.lcrmscp.gov. 2. Bio-West, Inc. 2005. Colorado River Backwaters Enhancement, Species Profiles Report. Submitted to Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, NV. Logan, UT. 102 p. 3. Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program. 2006. Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Draft Final Science Strategy. Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, NV. Available at http://www.lcrmscp.gov. 6 THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES 7 YUMA CLAPPER RAIL (Rallus longirostris yumanensis) Introduction Clapper rails (Rallus longirostris) are found from North America to South America and are classified into three groups: obsoletus, crepitans, and longirostris. The Yuma clapper rail (Rallus longirostris yumanensis Dickey) is one of four subspecies of the obsoletus group (Eddleman and Conway 1998). It was initially designated as a separate species, Rallus yumanensis Dickey (Bent 1926). The four species of clapper rails found along the west coast of North America, R. obsoletus, R. levipes, R. beldingi, and R. yumanensis, were later reclassified into subspecies (Van Rossem, 1929). The clapper rail primarily inhabits salt marshes and mangrove swamps throughout its range; the Yuma clapper rail inhabits freshwater marshes in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (Eddleman and Conway 1998, Hinojosa-Huerta et al. 2001). It is distinguished by paler, duller underparts and grayish edging of dorsal feathers. The cheeks and postoculars are bluish or ashy gray (Eddleman and Conway 1998). Legal Status The Yuma clapper rail was listed as endangered on 11 March 1967 by the Secretary of Interior, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1966 (U.S. Dept. of Interior 1968). California originally listed the Yuma clapper rail as endangered in 1971; relisted it as rare in 1978, and currently lists it as threatened (California Dept. of Fish and Game 2006). In 1978, Arizona classified the Yuma clapper rail as a species of special concern, similar to the Federal status of endangered (Arizona Game and Fish Dept. 2006). Nevada classifies the Yuma clapper rail as endangered as per Nevada Administrative Code 503.050. It is listed as threatened in Mexico (Hinojosa-Huerta et al. 2004). Distribution Historical Range Grinnell (1914) did not encounter the rail during an expedition/exploration from Needles, California, to Yuma, Arizona, in 1910 (Rosenberg et al. 1991). The Yuma clapper rail was found along the lower Colorado River after constructions of dams and the subsequent creation of marsh habitat (Ohmart and Smith 1973). The species was first described in 1923 from one of three rails collected in 1921 near Laguna Dam, north of Yuma, Arizona (Dickey 1923). Naturalists sighted Yuma clapper rails farther north several years after Parker, Imperial, and Headgate Rock dams were completed in 1938, 1939, and 1942, respectively (Monson 1964, Phillips et al. 1964, Welch 1966, Ohmart and Smith 1973).