West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

• Inyo California Towhee (April 10, 1998): Recovery and delisting of the Inyo Californiatowhee can be achieved with protection, management and enhancement of occupied riparianhabitat in the Argus Mountains. Habitat enhancement includes the removal of invasivevegetation, removal of wild burros and limitations on off-highway vehicle access. TheRecovery Plan also calls for monitoring of the habitat and towhee populations anddevelopment of a public outreach program.• Mojave tui chub (September 17, 1984): The Mojave tui chub can be downlisted to threatenedstatus after establishment of three additional self-sustaining populations. For delisting, reintroductionand establishment of viable populations into a majority of the historic habitat inthe Mojave River is necessary. This fish is currently maintained at small refugia at ChinaLake NAWS, Zyzzyx, and Camp Cady.• Southwestern Arroyo Toad (July 24, 1999): Protection of 20 occupied drainages andadjacent upland habitat in northern, southern and desert slope recovery units is necessary forthe arroyo toad to be downlisted to threatened. Protection of an additional 15 populations inthese recovery units is necessary for delisting. A portion of the desert slope recovery unit iswithin the West Mojave planning area, and includes Little Rock Creek in Los AngelesCounty and Deep Creek, Little Horsethief Creek and the Mojave River in San BernardinoCounty. Most occurrences of the arroyo toad are within the San Bernardino and AngelesNational Forests, with a small extension of occupied habitat extending onto private and BLMlands in the western Mojave Desert.• Southwestern willow flycatcher (August 30, 2002): Delisting of the southwestern willowflycatcher would require population increases and stabilization at specified river reacheswithin six Recovery Units. The Basin and Mojave Recovery Unit is found within the WestMojave Plan area, and contains two focus areas for management attention and conservationefforts: 1) the West Fork of the Mojave River from its headwaters to Mojave Forks dam(Hesperia area) and 2) the Mojave River between Spring Valley Lake and Bryman(Victorville-Apple Valley and San Bernardino County). The population size within theseunits must increase from the current level of 13 territories to 25 territories. Recommendedhabitat enhancement measures include removal of invasive riparian plants, such as Russianolive and saltcedar and trapping of brown-headed cowbirds, which parasitize flycatchernests.• California Red-legged Frog (May 28, 2002): Delisting can be considered after five criteriaare met. The first is protection of 35 core areas. Within the West Mojave are two core areas:the San Gabriel Mountains and the Forks of the Mojave River. The San Andreas Rift Zoneat the southwest edge of the planning area contains occupied habitat for this species, and theupper Mojave River contains suitable (and historical) habitat where the frog could be reestablished.The remaining criteria are stability of the populations, sufficient geographicaldistribution, successful establishment in historical habitat and needed research completed.Recovery Plans for other species (Least Bell’s vireo, carbonate endemic plants) have beenpublished in draft format and are awaiting public comment and finalization by USFWS.Chapter 3 3-31