Don Swann, Kara O’Brien, and Chuck Perger

Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona

Fire effects on tinajas and amphibian habitat at Saguaro National Park

Mike Sredl (Arizona Game and Fish) Ann Youberg (Arizona Geological Survey)

Adam Springer (Chiricahua National Monument) Eric Wallace, Erin Zylstra, Kris Ratzlaff (UA)

Cecil Schwalbe, John Parker (USGS) Dennis Caldwell (Tucson Herpetological Society)

Josh Taiz, Tom Skinner (USNFS) Mike Ward, Perry Grissom (Saguaro National Park)

Thanks to:

Outline

Saguaro National Park – east and west

Saguaro National Park – east – Rincon Mountain District

Saguaro NP – Rincon Mountain District

Sky Island ecological zones

• Historic fire return interval ~ 10 years

• Periodic fire stimulates regeneration, promotes nutrient recycling, protects forests from catastrophic fire

• Increase in very large wildfires during past few decades

Fire in Rincon Mountains and other Sky Islands

Mixed Conifer (7500-9500 feet)

Ponderosa pine (7000-8700 feet)

Surface water - intermittent streams

Springs and tanks

Tinajas – “earthenware jar” in Spanish

Major source of water in Rincons during dry season

Value for people, past and present

Mallard

Bobcats

Canyon treefrog

Dragonfly

Gary Slaten photo

Single-celled algae

Essential for wildlife

Lowland leopard frog (Lithobates [Rana] yavapaiensis)

Jumps! webbed feet

tadpoles ~ 9 months in water

Declining amphibians – globally and locally

Tarahumara frog (extirpated in US)

Major known populations of Lowland Leopard Frogs extirpated since 1940s near Tucson

Local declines of the lowland leopard frog

American bullfrog (non-native)

Crayfish (non-native)

Disease

Habitat loss

Lowland leopard frog habitat in Saguaro National Park

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Tamarisk: Follow-Up Surveys

Saguaro National Park

Arizona

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FILE:Follow_Up_Surveys.mxd

Produced by Justin Kolb, Biological Technician Data Source: Saguaro National Park

0 1 2 3 40.5Miles

July 2011

Legend

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Features

Drainages SurveyedDrainages

5000ft elevation

6000ft elevationState Trust Land

Private Inholding

RMD BoundaryForest Service Land

Private Land

²Park-wide, biannual surveys

Loma Verde

L. Verde South

Box

Rock Spring

Wildhorse

Chimenea

Lower Rincon

Turkey

Rincon North

Rincon

Madrona

Leopard frog monitoring in Saguaro, 1996-present

Tanque Verde/Joaquin

Photograph and record water status of each tinaja (>240)

Visual encounter surveys for leopard frogs and other aquatic species

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Mean frog counts per biannual survey, 1996-2012

Results 1996-2011 (Zylstra et al. 2015)

Pools where frogs observed, 1996-2011 (green); pools where frogs always observed (red)

Figure 1. Predicted number of recruits (a) and monthly survival (b) of adult lowland leopard frogs (with 95% confidence intervals) as a function of surface water availability, with other model variables held constant. Zylstra et al. 2015.

More water = more frogs Juveniles surviving

Adults surviving

Before 1999 Box Canyon fire 2001 – Post Fire

Water available to frogs in tinajas is related to rain, but not always

Example: Box Canyon Fire - 6,500 acres June 16 1999

NPS photo

NPS photos

Large areas of moderate-high severity

March 12 1997 – Loma Verde Pool 10, below fire perimeter

July 7 1997 – ash in water, water temps 35-360 C (95-970 F), tadpole mortality

October 14 1999 (filled after rain of 1.2 - 2.7” on July 15 1999)

Nov. 30 1999 March 15 2001 July 12 1999

Pool 1 (about 1 mile downstream of Pool 10) filled with ash on July 12, 1999 but did not receive sediment until winter rains of 2000.

June 2002 – all pools in Loma Verde dry due to 1-2 meters of sediment – last leopard frogs died

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Loma Verde Lowland Leopard Frog Survey Data: 1996-2013

Total

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Juveniles

Tadpoles

Number of frogs observed, Loma Verde Canyon, 1996-2013

Box Canyon Fire July 1999

All pools dry; Frogs disappear Spring 2002

Frogs re-appear fall 2007

Disappear early 2012

Example: 2003 Helen’s 2 Fire – 3,600 acres

NPS photo

2003 Helen’s 2 Fire – Joaquin Canyon

Parker 2006

From Parker (2006) Erosion pillars created by sheetwash

Course, poorly-sorted overbank deposits, Joaquin Canyon

November 2, 2005

July 19 2003 July 4 2003

Repeat photos – Joaquin Canyon (2003 Helen’s 2 Fire)

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Number of adult and juvenile frogs observed on surveys in Joaquin Canyon following 2003 Helen’s 2 Fire

Helen’s 2 Fire, June 2003

Summer 2005, no frogs detected

2007-2009; frogs returned, then disappeared again

Sediment surveys at SNP, 2005-present

How long does sediment persist in tinajas?

Sediment surveys

Bedrock contours, Madrona #2

Sediment surveys

Bedrock contours, Madrona #2 Sediment contours 2005

Sediment contours 2007 Sediment contours 2010

42%

79% 33%

How long does sediment persist?

Repeat photos – Loma Verde Canyon (1999 fire)

Shorter duration – high energy areas, larger watersheds

2001 2008 2006 2013

2001

2011

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Repeat photos – Loma Verde Canyon (1999 fire)

Longer duration – pools in smaller, less steep watersheds

2008

Repeat photos –Wildhorse Canyon (1989 Chiva Fire)

Longer duration – pools in low energy areas

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Mean sediment volume/pool by stream, 2005-2013

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Loma Verde – 68% burned (1999 fire)

Rincon – 73% (1994 fire)

Chimenea – 11.8% (misc. small fires)

Wildhorse – 31% 1989 fire)

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Percent Sediment Volume Average for All Pools (+/- one standard error)

Changes in tinaja sediment volume, all combined 2005-2013

Fire, floods, and sediment good for frogs – issue of scale

Fire effects on other frogs in Arizona

Chiricahua leopard frog - threatened Photo by J. Rorabaugh

Tarahumara frog – extirpated/reintroduced AGFD photo.

Management – what can we do as land, fire, and wildlife managers?

a. Measures to prevent post-fire erosion

Log erosion barrier

Staw bale erosion barrier

**Wood strand mulch

Robichaud (2009) Robichaud et al. (2012)

b. Habitat restoration

Miller Canyon frog habitat restoration (AGFD photo).

Pool 1 being excavated partially (left) and fully (right) in 2005

b. Habitat restoration

Pool 1 on July 8, 2006

Lowland Leopard Frog in Loma Verde on October 15, 2006

Pool 1 – dry on June 6, 2013

c. Salvage and re-introduction

Chiricahua leopard frog salvage and release, Miller Canyon. Glendale Community College photos.

Backyard pond project near Saguaro National Park

d. Pre-fire actions

Letting natural fires burn

Deer Head Fire, 2014

General concepts for conservation/management

How great is the risk? How important is the population? Consider the “no-action” alternative where ever possible

Erik Enderson photo

• Time’s circle: What are the natural patterns over time?

• Time’s arrow: What are the long-term trends?

– Potential threats

– When to respond

Long-term view – ecological change and “management”

Time’s arrow, time’s circle

Healthy forests, healthy frogs

“Stand on Tanque Verde Ridge in Saguaro National Park and see, in one compelling panorama, all that makes fire management in the western U.S. problematic…Saguaro will have to be lucky as well as good.” --Steve Pyne, A Fire History of America (2012)