CA Press: Endangered salamanders to be protected

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STANFORD DAILY (Stanford U, California) 05 May 08 Endangered salamanders to be protected - Permit would prohibit intentional harm to salamanders, other species (Loren Newman)
Stanford currently houses four kinds of protected species. While the first three animals that call Stanford home might be unfamiliar to most community members, the fourth is perhaps the most notorious amphibian to ever walk the Stanford campus — the tiger salamander.
This week, Stanford announced the drafting of an “incidental take permit” to protect these species.
Steelhead trout, western pond turtles and California red-legged frogs, the lesser known of the animals in question, are removed from the majority of Stanford’s population, primarily making their homes in the San Francisquito and Matadero creeks on the outskirts of University property. The salamander, however, claims as its habitat Lake Lagunita and many of the more populated areas on campus.
“They’re all over the land,” University Biologist Alan Launer said of the salamanders. “In the buildings, in the landscaping, even interacting with the people.”
An incidental take permit is essentially a document that prohibits the intentional destruction of an endangered animal or its habitat.
“‘Take’ is a word for everything from killing to wrecking habitat,” Launer said. “‘Incidental’ refers to anything that would otherwise be legal.”
If granted, the policy will allow certain projects to unintentionally threaten the animals, but any outright destruction will be prohibited.
The new policy will make significant changes to University practices along its creeks, Launer said, but will not result in changes that the average student or faculty member would notice.
The man-made Lake Lagunita basin once served as a site for waterslides and windsurfing lessons, but now its water level is generally much lower. The change has prompted many students to speculate that the presence of the salamanders is blocking the reinstatement of a true lake on west campus.
According to Launer, there is misunderstanding about the salamanders and recent lake water levels.
“The reason the lake is not full is because the berm is not safe,” he said.
Launer said the water was unlikely to ever reach a level higher than the present without significant improvements to the lake’s damming walls.
“The dam is just full of rodent holes and trees,” he said. “It’s not a good strong dam.”
Launer told The Daily that if it had not been for the salamanders in the lakebed, the University may have been compelled to keep the lake even drier than it has been in the past because some wetlands were always maintained for salamander habitats.
According to Launer, the new incidental take permit will have no effect on future Lake Lag policies.
The new conservation plan is one in a series of measures taken to protect the salamanders over the past decade.
Lake Lag serves as a mating ground for the salamanders during the rainy winter months. For many salamanders this migration means crossing busy Junipero Serra Street. To cut down on salamander mortality, the university installed a $100,000 system consisting of three migration tunnels under the road in 2001. The tunnels — still present today — are lit and circulate water to entice the amphibians.
A draft of the new permit will soon be posted online and will then be open to a 60-day public comment period. Ideally, Launer said, the plan will go into effect next spring.
“[The permit] sets up a framework for the next fifty years of conservation planning,” Launer said. “It’s a really good thing.”
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/5/5/endangeredSalamandersToBeProtected