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For arroyo toads, sand is de rigueur. Whether in a seasonal creek or during extended dry seasons, these toads endure harsh conditions by burrowing into sandy streamsides and sealing themselves within a thin shell of shed epidermis. With increased development and urban sprawl, though, they’ve lost much of the sand they need to live.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1994
CRITICAL HABITAT:
11,695 acres in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties designated in 2005
RECOVERY PLAN: 1999
RANGE: Coastal slopes in southern California from the Salinas River Basin in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties to Arroyo San Simón in northern Baja California, Mexico; a few drainages on desert slopes of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges
THREATS: Habitat degradation due to water projects, development, and urban sprawl; invasive species predation; and small population size
POPULATION TREND: The arroyo toad has been extirpated from an estimated 65 percent of its former range. Currently, only six of the 22 extant populations south of Ventura, California, are known to contain more than a dozen adults.
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SAVING THE ARROYO TOAD
Once found in large numbers along creeks and drainages from Monterey to San Diego and northern Baja California, Mexico, arroyo toads have been eliminated from as much as 65 percent of their historic range. Urban sprawl, dams, cattle grazing, mining, and off-road vehicles are devouring what little remains of arroyo toad habitat, while nonnative bullfrogs devour the toads themselves. To make matters worse, introduced bullhead trout and crayfish eat toad eggs and tadpoles.
In 2000, the Center settled a suit with the U.S. Forest Service that included an agreement to close parts of Los Padres National Forest to protect arroyo toad habitat. In March 2001, the Center won protection for the arroyo toad by convincing the Bureau of Land Management to close a sand-and-gravel mine in Whitewater Canyon, protecting one of the few remaining toad populations within the California Desert Conservation Area. And in 2005, the Center worked to maintain Angeles National Forest closures to off-road vehicles along southern California’s Littlerock and Santiago creeks.
The Center continues to work to protect the toad and its habitat. In August 2007, we filed a notice of intent to sue the Bush administration for its failure to adequately protect the toad and 54 other species, taking the administration to task for allowing political operative Julie MacDonald to dictate policy to scientists working on the 2005 decision that cut the toad’s proposed critical habitat by more than 90 percent. Three months later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would reverse that critical habitat decision and reconsider protections for the toad and five other imperiled species affected by tainted Endangered Species Act determinations. In December 2007, we sued to ensure that the toad’s new critical habitat designation is adequate, as well as to challenge designations for 12 other species. And finally, six months later, the Service agreed to issue a new arroyo toad critical habitat proposal by October 2009.
ACTION TIMELINE
NATURAL HISTORY
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Contact: Lisa Belenky
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