Amphibian and Reptile Inventory and Monitoring: Redwood National Park

Bury, R.; Hyde, Erin

Amphibian declines have occurred in many populations throughout western North America and are of management concern in most National Park units. Most of the parks in the Klamath network are significantly deficient in their “Level I” Aquatic and Terrestrial Inventories for amphibians and reptiles, which is part of the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Program. Redwood National Park is a large unit with 44,296 ha (112,513 ac or ca. 175 mi2). Further, the landscape is highly diverse from coastal rocky beachs and adjacent bluffs, through dense stands of old-growth redwood, eastward into mixed conifer-hardwoods with open grasslands and oak-woodland. The amphibians and reptiles of Redwood National Parks received some attention by several previous efforts. These include two park distributional surveys (unpubl. on file at park), a study comparing logged and natural redwood forest (Bury 1982), one study of stream amphibians (Welsh and Ollivier 1998; Welsh et al. 1997), and an overview (Cooperrider et al. 2000). Basic distributional work is lacking for most of the park (probably >95% of its surface area). Intensive ecological studies or research on one community is sparse to non-existent. Because these efforts have likely identified most common amphibian and reptile species for the Park, our inventory was intended to target rare species, or those with limited or unknown distributions in the Park. Our primary effort focused on unique or limited habitats in the park that have historically been less targeted in inventory accounts. Primary habitats for our visit included: (1) Steep talus coastal slopes; (2) Bald Hills (open grasslands and oak savanna); (3) Ponds/bogs; and (4) Coastal/forest interface. Further, we were interested in exploring new ways to sample and monitor the herpetofauna for future endeavors (see Bury and Hyde 2004).

Amphibian and Reptile Inventory and Monitoring: Redwood National Park

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