Amphibians and Reptiles Affected by Recreation

Coeur d’Alene Salamander
Great Basin Spadefoot
Pacific Giant Salamander
Painted Turtle
Snakes
Tailed Frog
Tiger Salamander

Coeur d’Alene Salamander (Blue-listed)

The Coeur d’Alene Salamander is a Blue-listed species in British Columbia that occurs as small, separate populations in southeastern B.C. Its habitat requirements include wet areas, such as wet seeps, waterfall splash zones, and streamside riparian zones. As well, this salamander requires rock formations with deep clefts or cracks that provide protection from hot dry temperatures in summer and from freezing temperatures in winter.

Activities that negatively affect water quality and riparian habitats may be deleterious to this species. Thus activities that reduce water quality and/or habitat composition can increase risk to this species at affected sites. The consequences to local populations can be significant because their distribution is characterized by small, isolated populations which are more prone to local extinction than larger broadly distributed populations

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

For current information on the species, including species conservation status, distribution, and reports and references, see BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/atrisk/toolintro.html

Great Basin Spadefoot (Blue-listed)

Great Basin Spadefoots are amphibians primarily of sagebrush flats, dry grasslands, semi-desert shrublands, and open woodlands with sandy soil. They typically breed in shallow ponds or temporary pools that dry up by early to mid-summer.

In British Columbia, most sites are in the low-elevation Bunchgrass biogeoclimatic zone, but there are records of tadpoles in three lakes in the Englemann Spruce-Subalpine Fir Zone within a few hundred metres of steep, south-facing grasslands in the Montane Spruce Zone.

The larvae are scavengers on algae, aquatic plants, dead fish, and even their own feces. Adults forage at night, eating a variety of terrestrial invertebrates, and are themselves preyed upon by snakes, Great Blue Herons, and Coyotes.

Breeding begins in mid- to late April, and can occur as late as July, especially in wet, cool years. Females lay 300–800 eggs in small clusters attached to sticks, pebbles, or aquatic vegetation. The larval development time is 6–8 weeks.

Potential concerns for this species include encroachment on the areas around small ponds and temporary pools in the dry southern Interior of the province during breeding season and afterward while the adults forage. Once the adults again burrow into the soil, the threats to individuals are reduced.

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

Pacific Giant Salamander (Red-listed)

Pacific Giant (Coastal) Salamanders are species that live in and around the cold mountain streams of the Fraser Valley. The larvae hide under rocks, debris, and overhanging streambanks. Little is known of the ecology of adults, but they presumably spend most of their time within the moss-covered soil of wet forests, where they eat invertebrates such as beetles, spiders, and slugs but can capture vertebrate prey as large as shrews, mice, and smaller salamanders. The adults are largely sedentary, but on wet nights they can move several hundred metres, and often move 1500 metres on successive nights. The adult females lay 85–200 eggs, singly or in clumps, in a hidden subterranean or underwater nest site, and protect the eggs for up to 7 months.

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

For current information on the species, including species conservation status, distribution, and reports and references, see BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/atrisk/toolintro.html

Painted Turtle (Blue-listed)

The Painted Turtle is widespread in southeastern North America, but is restricted to valleys and lowlands across southern BC, from Vancouver Island to the East Kootenay, and north to Williams Lake. The species lays eggs in May or June in a nest dug in sandy-gravelly soils near water. Individuals often move between summer and winter hibernating ponds. Turtles hibernate in bottom mud of lakes and ponds and emerge with warming water temperatures.

Where motorized vehicles bisect travel corridors used by Painted Turtles between their summer and winter habitats, there is a risk that animals will be crushed. As well, activities that impact water quality of both summer and winter waterbodies will adversely affect turtles.

Principal sources of information:

Effects of recreation on Rocky Mountain Wildlife: A review for Montana. 1999. G. Joslin and H. Youmans. Committee on Effects of Recreation on Wildlife. Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

Painted Turtle. 1998. D.A. Blood and M. Macartney. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC. Species at Risk in British Columbia brochure series. Available at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/pturtle.pdf

Snakes: Red- and Blue-listed species

Racer (BLUE), Sharptail Snake (RED), Night Snake (RED), Gopher Snake -catenifer ssp.(RED), Gopher Snake - deserticola ssp. (BLUE), and Western Rattlesnake (BLUE)

All three Red-listed snakes – Sharptail Snake, Night Snake, and Gopher Snake catenifer ssp. – occur in and near settlements and are therefore unlikely to be impacted by backcountry recreation. The catenifer Gopher Snake appears to have been extirpated from BC.

Three snakes are Blue-listed: Racer, Western Rattlesnake, and Gopher Snake (ssp. deserticola). All of these snakes occur in the southern Interior of B.C., although their individual distributions vary somewhat. All of these snakes den in winter hibernacula, sometimes with other species. They emerge in May and disperse to summer feeding areas. These wintering sites are critical to these snakes in coping with cold winter temperatures, and precautions are therefore required to prevent damage to hibernacula. It is also important to minimize disturbance to emerging snakes.

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

Western Rattlesnake. 1993. D.A. Blood. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. Victoria, BC. Species at Risk brochure series. Available at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/rattlesnake.pdf

For (1997 data) species distribution and map, see:

Gopher Snake deserticola spp.

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/fpc/fpcguide/other/species/species-03.htm

Night Snake

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/fpc/fpcguide/other/species/species-04.htm

Rubber Boa

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/fpc/fpcguide/other/species/species-05.htm

Tailed Frog (Coastal: Blue-listed; Interior: Red-listed)

Tailed Frogs occur in the Coast and Cascade Mountain Ranges of western British Columbia, and in two drainages in the extreme southeastern corner of the province. The two species live in cool, permanent mountain streams with stable substrates and narrow temperature regimes.

Activities that damage the integrity of streams can potentially adversely affect Tailed Frogs. Damage to riparian vegetation, stream banks and in-stream activities can increase sediment loads, increase water temperatures and de-stabilize stream channels – all of which may affect these species.

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

Tailed Frog. 1998. L. Dupuis. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC. Species at Risk brochure series. Available at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/tailedfrog_ar.pdf

For current information on the species, including species conservation status, distribution, and reports and references, see BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/atrisk/toolintro.html

For (1997 data) species distribution and map, see:
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/fpc/fpcguide/other/species/species-02.htm

Tiger Salamander (Red-listed)

The Tiger Salamander is widespread throughout North America, but the species is found in British Columbia only in the southern Okanagan and Similakmeen areas. Its main habitats are in areas with lakes, ponds, or seasonal pools within the dry bunchgrass and ponderosa pine environments. They typically breed in warm shallow ponds or temporary pools that may dry up by early to mid-summer. Eggs are laid in April or May.

Commercial recreation concern for this species is encroachment on the areas around small ponds and temporary pools during breeding season, and afterwards while the adults forage. Adult salamanders do not range much beyond 150 m from their home pond.

Half of the original breeding habitat of the Tiger Salamander has been lost because of habitat degradation and fish stocking programs. Introduced fish in Tiger Salamander habitat are a major cause of endangerment of this species.

Principal sources of information:

Rare amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of British Columbia. 1999. S.G. Cannings, L.R. Ramsay, D.F. Fraser, and M.A. Fraker. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.

For current information on the species, including species conservation status, distribution, and reports and references, see BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/atrisk/toolintro.html