Spring 2010
Threatened, Endangered Creatures Recover at Cloverdale Coastal Ranches
San Francisco garter snake
- Of the animals POST regularly encounters, the California
red-legged frog (threatened) and the San Francisco
garter snake (endangered) have received the most press.
These two creatures might inhabit nearly any freshwater
pond or wetland, natural or man-made, yet loss of
habitat has made them rare.
POST has found survivors at
Pillar Point Bluff, Cloverdale
Coastal Ranches, Mindego
Hill, Clark Canyon Ranch and
Rancho San Vicente,
to name a few of
their haunts.
- Until the early
1900s, California red-legged
frog legs were a regional delicacy. Besides urbanization and industrial
agriculture, what spelled their demise was the importation
of non-native bullfrogs. These larger cousins preyed upon
red-legged frogs, crowding them out of their steadily
disappearing habitat. Nearby on the food chain, the San
Francisco garter snake felt the loss, since red-legged frogs
are the snake’s favorite food. The beauty of their turquoise
blue stripes also makes the snake a target for collectors.
California red-legged frog- Using state and federal grants, POST has improved
pond and wetland habitat at Cloverdale Coastal Ranches,
and there are signs the three-year effort is succeeding.
“One pond was so crowded with rushes, a person could
walk across it,” says Dave Kelly, recovery program
coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department in
Sacramento. “Now there is open water and improved
vegetation on the banks. Both are important for wildlife.
Cloverdale is an excellent model for how habitat
restoration should be done.”
Slow but Sure . . .
