The proposed project builds on more than twenty years of work conducted by the california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw), USDA forest service (USFS), U.S. Fish and wildlife service (USFWS) and…

The proposed project builds on more than twenty years of work conducted by the california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw), USDA forest service (USFS), U.S. Fish and wildlife service (USFWS) and researchers. Cdfw's contribution to sierra nevada yellow-legged frog (rana sierrae) conservation has been conducted by the high mountain lakes (HML) project. Throughout its twenty-year history, the HML project has accomplished the following:-surveyed approximately 13,000 distinct water bodies in the sierra nevada, with a focus on detecting potential r. Sierrae and southern mountain yellow-legged frog (r. Muscosa) occupancy;-created and managed a long-term monitoring database, which is used to analyze r. Sierrae population trends and inform management documents;-developed fourteen aquatic biodiversity management plans (abmps) that address several thousand water bodies and focus on r. Sierrae recovery;-implemented or assisted with twenty-five successful non-native fish removal projects to help restore r. Sierrae in dozens of lakes;-reviewed, reduced, and halted hatchery trout planting activities to accommodate r. Sierrae recovery, resulting in a 70% decline in high mountain trout stocking;-spearheaded the california endangered species act listing process for r. Sierrae and sierra nevada populations of r. Muscosa;-conducted broad scale amphibian chytrid fungus (batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; BD) tests to help determine the distribution of BD across sierra nevada frog populations; and-facilitated research on numerous topics related to sierra nevada yellow-legged frog conservation.additional funds are necessary to implement key activities identified by the USFWS and cdfw as critical to the recovery of the species, including maintaining long-term monitoring to identify population trends and continue monitoring at completed fish removal sites. Cdfw's HML project conducts this work in collaboration with federal partners and leading species experts. Funding for past work was provided by a combination of california state funds and federal grant sources, including state wildlife grants (SWG), traditional section 6, and sports fish restoration act (sfra).