Publication Date: Wednesday Sep 27, 2000

STANFORD: Salamander crawls toward 'endangered species' list

The California tiger salamander colony behind Stanford University "may prove to be genetically distinct from other populations of the salamander," according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

If so, the distinction could assure the amphibian's placement on the federal endangered-species list, further complicating Stanford plans for the salamander habitat west of Lake Lagunita. The salamander already is listed as a "species of special concern" by the state.

"Listing it (as an endangered species) would complicate Stanford's life quite a bit in the short run," said Alan Launer of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. Launer is also the university biologist.

"We would absolutely have to have a habitat conservation plan, but it can't shut the place down," Launer said. "Almost everything Stanford does, including mowing lawns, could be viewed as impacting (the salamander). Stanford will have to enter some serious negotiations with Fish & Wildlife."

The federal agency's letter refers to a pending genetic study of salamanders in California.

Brad Shaffer, an evolution and ecology professor at the University of California, Davis, has just finished collecting data for a genetic study of the California tiger salamander, sampling some 100 populations up and down the state.

"We have finished collecting DNA-sequence data to look at salamanders across the state," Shaffer said. "In six months, we'll know much more after we analyze the data."

Shaffer said the small population near Santa Barbara and salamanders in Sonoma County may be distinct population segments, but wasn't certain about the Lake Lagunita salamanders.

"What I do think about the Lake Lagunita population is that it is unique, either the very last or one of the last populations left on the Peninsula," Shaffer said. "To have it in that part of the state is very important."

Meanwhile, with the California tiger salamander currently listed as a "species of special concern," both the federal and state agencies have recommended that Stanford change its proposed 10-year development plan because of the effect it might have on the salamander's habitat. Both agencies have written letters to Santa Clara County recommending that Stanford change its development plans near Lake Lagunita, the prime breeding area of the salamanders. That could affect as many as 550 faculty and graduate student housing units that Stanford hopes to build.

Those letters were submitted as part of the environmental review of the development plan now pending before county officials. The final environmental impact report on the plan is scheduled to be released by county officials Oct. 7. The plan itself is scheduled for a final decision by the county Board of Supervisors Oct. 30-31.

"Stanford's development activities have increasingly encroached on the species' upland habitat around Lagunita, the salamanders' primary local breeding pond," Karen Miller, chief of the endangered species division of the Fish & Wildlife Service, wrote to the county Aug. 4.

"Under most alternatives in the current (development) proposal, this trend of habitat loss would continue and worsen. In our assessment, past and proposed cumulative habitat losses at Stanford pose a grave threat to the long-term viability of the Stanford salamander population."

Larry Horton, Stanford's director of government and community relations, disagrees, saying the university has long been interested in protecting the salamanders.

"We have a long and scholarly interest in the California tiger salamander, and we believe what we have proposed is a positive program," he said.

Denice Dade of the Committee for Green Foothills thinks the county should follow the recommendations of the federal and state agencies.

"These are expert opinions and what they think is appropriate," she said. "The land right next to the lake is the most important habitat to sustain a viable population. The idea is to be as close to the lake as possible."

The county, university and two agencies entered into a four-party agreement in 1998 to create the California Tiger Salamander Management Zone at Stanford, encompassing Lake Lagunita and the surrounding area, and crossing Junipero Serra Boulevard and extending into the foothills.

"There would have to be negotiations (to change it)," Horton acknowledged.

Such changes, however, would possibly pale to what Stanford would have to do if the federal government decides to formally list the California tiger salamander as a threatened or endangered species under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

That has been under consideration for the last few years but other, higher-priority species have taken precedence, said David Wright, a senior biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service's Sacramento office.

"A lot of that has been done and (the salamander) has moved up a lot," Wright said. "We're on the way to making a determination."

If the salamander is listed, "there is an absolute prohibition against a taking of the species, including removing any of the habitat," Wright said.

"If it were listed, then we would have to negotiate a habitat conservation plan," Horton said.

Shaffer of UC Davis said the California tiger salamander is a grasslands and low-elevation woodlands species that has lost between 50 and 90 percent of its habitat across the state. It is especially compatible with cattle grazing lands, using the ponds on them to breed, but is losing those areas to development or conversion to vineyards.

According to Stanford biologist Launer, there are between 2,000 and 7,500 tiger salamanders on Stanford lands. "That's our running estimate," he said. The amphibians breed in Lake Lagunita but then spend much of their time in the grassy foothills. The population also varies greatly between wet and dry years.

"It's boom or bust," depending on the rainfall, "but they've done well here for a long time," he said.

While little is known about the population trends of the Lake Lagunita salamanders over the years, "overall, it has to be a downward trend in the last 100 years," Launer said. "If we do nothing at all, it will probably go extinct in 10-20 years."

The greatest difficulty for the small amphibians is that Junipero Serra Boulevard runs between their upland habitat and the lake where they breed. "There are maybe 200-300 road kills in a difficult year," Launer said. When the rains start and the salamanders start heading for the lake, biology students go out to the road to hand-carry them safely across.

Stanford was instructed to build an amphibian tunnel under the road as part of a mitigation plan for an earlier housing development, but hasn't done that yet. Now, the federal agency is recommending that "several, large, recessed channels covered by open grates at road level" be built for the salamanders under Junipero Serra Boulevard.

Separate from Stanford's 10-year development plan, there is a development application before the county from the Carnegie Foundation to build a 20,000-square-foot facility in the hills near two existing think tanks. The Carnegie site is also in the salamander management zone.

The Carnegie application "would get closer review" if the salamander became listed under the Endangered Species Act, Launer said, "but it wouldn't necessarily stop it. It's on a relatively small percentage of the habitat."0<\f>f,1

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