Jarbid Technical Bulletin 2007-03 g e Field Office 2006-2007 Wildlife Inventory in the Jarbidge Field Office BLM/ID/GI-08/002+1150 December 2007 It is the mission of the Bureau of Land Management to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Technical Bulletin: 2006 - 2007 Wildlife Inventory in The Jarbidge Field Office BLM Jarbidge Field Office Twin Falls, Idaho December 05, 2007 Prepared by Jim Klott, Sheri Whitfield, Melanie Cota, and Emily McTavish Acknowledgements. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Gary Wright, Shoshone Field Office, BLM and Peggy Bartells, formerly of the Burley Field Office, BLM for the long hours they spent with field crews from June through September in 2006 field season. We also acknowledge Isaac Ashby and Holly McCready, field crew members in the 2006 field season. Special thanks goes to Alexis Carroll, from the BLM state office, who assisted with field work several times over the summer and to Signe Sather-Blair for offering to let Alexis spend more time in the field. Several BLM staff in the Twin Falls District Office provided assistance as needed in the summer of 2006 including Kimberly Greeley, Amanda Hoffman, Beckie Wagoner, and Eric Kurkowski. Tara Graham assisted with field work, data entry and data analysis. 1 Abstract Large scale habitat alterations within the Jarbidge Field Office (JFO) created concern for special status species and wildlife in general. In September 2005, BLM agreed to a Stipulated Settlement Agreement to a lawsuit filed by Western Watersheds Project. One of the settlement points of litigation was to conduct a wildlife inventory on a number of wildlife species. The focus of the inventory was to sample for a variety of lesser known wildlife species within the JFO, presently categorized by Idaho BLM as sensitive species. While inventorying for the focus species, BLM collected data on all wildlife captured. In January 2006, JFO held a meeting inviting biologists from Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), BLM, the Nature Conservancy, Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW), the Conservation Data Center, and Idaho Power Company. The specialists reviewed the existing data as well as some of the scientific information and made recommendations for wildlife inventory in the JFO (Sather-Blair 2006). Based upon these recommendations, BLM attempted to inventory for a variety of small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Additionally, we noted the condition of habitat in general and big game winter range. Wildlife target species included the following – mammals: pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), Piute (Great Basin) ground squirrel (Spermophilus mollis), cliff chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis), little pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris), pinyon mouse (Peromyscus truei), and Merriam’s shrew (Sorex merriami ); – reptiles: longnose snake (Rhinocheilus leconti), Western groundsnake (Sonora semiannulata), Great Basin collared lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores); – amphibians: Woodhouse toad (Bufo woodhousei), western toad (B. boreas), northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) and Columbia spotted frog (R. luteiventris). In May into July 2006 BLM inventoried several wetlands in daylight surveys. From early May into June 2007 night-time amphibian call surveys were conducted. Surveys in 2007 did not result in any new locations for BLM sensitive amphibians being found. Columbia spotted frogs were confirmed in Rocky Canyon, but found in no other drainages. Pacific chorus frogs were the most widespread of the amphibians. They were found in beaver ponds along creeks, springs and wet meadows, and some livestock ponds. No Woodhouse toads or northern leopard frogs were documented within the JFO. We collected information on plant communities as they may influence the diversity, abundance, and species composition of reptiles, birds, and small mammals in the planning area. Along reptile visual observation transects the most frequently observed lizard was the short horned lizard (Phrynosma douglasii). Areas with sandy soils had more leopard lizards (Gambelia wislizenii) and western whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus tigris). Reptiles trapped differed from reptiles encountered on observation transects. Western whiptails were caught relatively frequently, whereas the more frequently observed horned lizards were trapped infrequently. The gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) was the most frequently observed and trapped snake. Gopher snakes were present in most of plant communities at a variety of elevations from 3200 to 6500 feet. Bird species generally reflected the habitat type being sampled. Horned larks (Ermophila alpestris) and vesper sparrows (Pooecetes gramineus) were found in several habitats including 2 sagebrush steppe and grassland types. Sage sparrow (Amphispiza belli) and Brewer’s sparrow (Spizella breweri) were generally associated with sagebrush steppe communities. Small mammals and reptiles were inventoried in 40 study plots of public land in 23 vegetation communities within the JFO. Our overall mean captures per 100 trap nights were 15.71 across all plant communities, higher than those reported by either Reynolds (1980) in ungrazed big sagebrush or Hanser and Huntly (2006) in big sagebrush. However, Johnson (1961) did not report capture rates by habitat. Our rates of capture were similar to those reported by McAdoo et al. (2006) in northeastern Nevada. Given that 2006 was a one year inventory, it is not known if the relatively high number of small mammals caught was normal or due to there being a peak in the rodent population cycle. Other researchers have found that rodent populations shift substantially between years (Larrison and Johnson 1973, Feldhamer 1979, McAdoo et al. 2006). Although Reynolds (1980) and Johnson (1961) used snap-traps, Hanser and Huntly (2006) and McAdoo et al. (2006), like our study, used baited Sherman live traps. In their studies, as well as in ours, deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) were the most common small mammal species captured and were dominant or co-dominant in all habitats sampled. In sagebrush habitats other small mammals trapped included sagebrush voles (Lemmiscus curtatus), Great Basin pocket mouse (Perognathus parvus), and least chipmunk (Neotamius minimus). Visual surveys for ground squirrels were conducted from mid-April through mid-May 2007 to document the approximate distribution of the Piute ground squirrel. This ground squirrel species was generally found in a broad east-west belt through the central portion of the field office area. Belding ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) were generally found at the higher elevations (5,500 feet) in the southern part of the planning area. Whereas, antelope ground squirrels (Ammospermophilus leucurus) were found in the northern portion of the planning area, generally within a few miles of the Snake River Canyon at 3800 feet or less in elevation. 3 INTRODUCTION In September 2005, BLM agreed to a Stipulated Settlement Agreement to a lawsuit filed by Western Watersheds Project. In the Stipulated Settlement Agreement, BLM agreed to inventory for Idaho BLM sensitive species and include the data in a new planning effort. To make the most efficient use of staff and funding BLM held a data workshop in January 2006 with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), IDFG, the Idaho Conservation Data Center, and non-government organizations to determine which species or groups of species were in highest priority for inventory. At the data fair both biologists and botanists reviewed data on species presence in or adjacent to JFO, documented and suspected distribution, prior inventory efforts, and where inventories had been conducted. Another consideration was the amount of peer reviewed scientific information on species of concern from other portions of the species range. Biologists and botanists then identified the data gaps for groups of species and prioritized species for inventory in the Jarbidge Field Office. The biologists’ priorities for inventory were for species which had not been inventoried within the planning area, species which are generally uncommon, and species for which inventory data were more than 12 years old. Species, such as northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and Lewis woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis), for which there is naturally very limited habitat were a lower priority compared to species such as pygmy rabbit and Piute ground squirrel for which there is a substantial amount of suitable habitat. Priority species for inventory were amphibians emphasizing the Columbia spotted frog, but recording information on western toad, northern leopard frog, and Woodhouse toad; reptiles [long-nose snake, western groundsnake, and Great Basin black-collared lizard], and small mammals [pygmy rabbit, Piute ground squirrel, cliff chipmunk, dark kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops megachephalus), little pocket mouse, pinyon mouse, and Merriam’s shrew. The various biologists determined that additional inventory efforts on bats would not likely provide much new information in part because of existing presence data in Bruneau and Jarbidge River Canyons and the Clover and Salmon Falls Creek Canyons collected in the mid-1990’s. Existing information on ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) and prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) were deemed adequate. Specialists at the data fair determined scientific information on sagebrush songbirds (sage sparrow, Brewer’s sparrow, loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus))