PROPOSED Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series Adopted under Section 44 of SARA Recovery Strategy for the Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus), Carolinian population, in Canada Northern Dusky Salamander 2021 1 1 Recommended citation: 2 3 Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2021. Recovery Strategy for the Northern 4 Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus), Carolinian population, in Canada 5 [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Environment and Climate 6 Change Canada, Ottawa. 3 parts, 28 pp. + vi + 30 pp. + 5 pp. 7 8 9 10 Official version 11 The official version of the recovery documents is the one published in PDF. All 12 hyperlinks were valid as of date of publication. 13 14 Non-official version 15 The non-official version of the recovery documents is published in HTML format and all 16 hyperlinks were valid as of date of publication. 17 18 19 20 For copies of the recovery strategy, or for additional information on species at risk, 21 including the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) 22 Status Reports, residence descriptions, action plans, and other related recovery 23 documents, please visit the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry1. 24 25 26 27 Cover illustration: © Joe Crowley 28 29 Également disponible en français sous le titre 30 « Programme de rétablissement de la salamandre sombre du Nord (Desmognathus 31 fuscus), population carolinienne, au Canada [Proposition] » 32 33 34 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of 35 Environment and Climate Change, 2021. All rights reserved. 36 ISBN 37 Catalogue no. 38 39 40 41 Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate 42 credit to the source. 1 www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry.html 43 RECOVERY STRATEGY FOR THE NORTHERN DUSKY 44 SALAMANDER (Desmognathus fuscus), CAROLINIAN 45 POPULATION, IN CANADA 46 47 2021 48 49 Under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996), the federal, provincial, 50 and territorial governments agreed to work together on legislation, programs, and 51 policies to protect wildlife species at risk throughout Canada. 52 53 In the spirit of cooperation of the Accord, the Government of Ontario has given 54 permission to the Government of Canada to adopt the Recovery Strategy for the 55 Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and the 56 Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) in Ontario (Part 2) and the 57 Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander and the Northern Dusky Salamander – Ontario 58 Government Response Statement (Part 3) under Section 44 of the Species at Risk Act 59 (SARA). Environment and Climate Change Canada has included a federal addition 60 (Part 1) which completes the SARA requirements for this recovery strategy. 61 62 63 The federal recovery strategy for the Northern Dusky Salamander, Carolinian 64 population, in Canada consists of three parts: 65 66 Part 1 – Federal Addition to the Recovery Strategy for the Allegheny Mountain 67 Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and the Northern Dusky 68 Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) in Ontario, prepared by Environment and 69 Climate Change Canada. 70 Part 2 – Recovery Strategy for the Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander 71 (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and the Northern Dusky Salamander 72 (Desmognathus fuscus) in Ontario, prepared by Tricia Markle, Anne Yagi and 73 David Green for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources2. 74 Part 3 – Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander and the Northern Dusky Salamander – 75 Ontario Government Response Statement, prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Natural 76 Resources. 2 On June 26, 2014, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources became the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. 77 Table of contents 78 79 Part 1 – Federal Addition to the Recovery Strategy for the Allegheny Mountain Dusky 80 Salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and the Northern Dusky Salamander 81 (Desmognathus fuscus) in Ontario, prepared by Environment and Climate Change 82 Canada. 83 84 85 Preface ............................................................................................................................ 0 86 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 2 87 Additions and Modifications to the Adopted Document ................................................... 3 88 Recovery Feasibility Summary ........................................................................................ 3 89 1. COSEWIC Species Assessment Information ............................................................ 7 90 2. Species Status Information ....................................................................................... 7 91 3. Threats ...................................................................................................................... 8 92 4. Population and Distribution Objectives ..................................................................... 9 93 5. Broad Strategies and General Approaches to Meet Objectives .............................. 10 94 6. Critical Habitat......................................................................................................... 10 95 6.1 Identification of the Species’ Critical Habitat ..................................................... 10 96 6.2 Activities Likely to Result in Destruction of Critical Habitat ............................... 15 97 7. Measuring Progress ................................................................................................ 17 98 8. Statement on Action Plans ...................................................................................... 17 99 9. References ............................................................................................................. 18 100 Appendix A: Historical Context for Northern Dusky Salamander ................................... 20 101 Appendix B: Conservation Status Ranks of Northern Dusky Salamander 102 (Desmognathus fuscus) in Canada and the United States ............................................ 25 103 Appendix C: Effects on the Environment and Other Species ........................................ 26 104 105 106 Part 2 – Recovery Strategy for the Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander 107 (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and the Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus 108 fuscus) in Ontario, prepared by Tricia Markle, Anne Yagi and David Green for the 109 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 110 111 112 Part 3 – Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander and the Northern Dusky Salamander – 113 Ontario Government Response Statement, prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Natural 114 Resources 115 Recovery Strategy for the Northern Dusky Salamander, Carolinian population 2021 Part 1: Federal Addition 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 Part 1 – Federal Addition to the Recovery Strategy for the 130 Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus 131 ochrophaeus) and the Northern Dusky Salamander 132 (Desmognathus fuscus) in Ontario, prepared by Environment 133 and Climate Change Canada 134 1 Recovery Strategy for the Northern Dusky Salamander, Carolinian population 2021 Part 1: Federal Addition 135 Preface 136 137 The federal, provincial, and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the 138 Protection of Species at Risk (1996)3 agreed to establish complementary legislation and 139 programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. 140 Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c.29) (SARA), the federal competent 141 ministers are responsible for the preparation of recovery strategies for listed Extirpated, 142 Endangered, and Threatened species and are required to report on progress within 143 five years after the publication of the final document on the SAR Public Registry. 144 145 The Minister of Environment and Climate Change is the competent minister under 146 SARA for the Northern Dusky Salamander, Carolinian population, and has prepared the 147 federal component of this recovery strategy (Part 1), as per section 37 of SARA. To the 148 extent possible, it has been prepared in cooperation with the Province of Ontario as per 149 section 39(1) of SARA. SARA section 44 allows the Minister to adopt all or part of an 150 existing plan for the species if it meets the requirements under SARA for content 151 (sub-sections 41(1) or (2)). The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (now the Ontario 152 Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) led the development of the attached 153 multi-species recovery strategy for the Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander and the 154 Northern Dusky Salamander (Part 2) in cooperation with Environment and Climate 155 Change Canada. The Province of Ontario also led the development of the attached 156 Government Response Statement (Part 3), which is the Ontario Government’s policy 157 response to its provincial recovery strategy and summarizes the prioritized actions that 158 the Ontario government intends to take and support. 159 160 Success in the recovery of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of 161 many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out 162 in this strategy and will not be achieved by Environment and Climate Change, or any 163 other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing 164 this strategy for the benefit of the Northern