If you own wetlands, here’s how you can help save Santa Cruz endangered species

MOSS LANDING, Calif. (KION-TV) — A team of conservation scientists are studying endangered salamanders and frogs around Monterey, Moss Landing, Apots and Santa Cruz. But they need help getting water samples from private property owners with wetlands.

The Rare Amphibian Detection in California team is made up of scientists from Elkhorn Slough Reserve, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Lucia Reserve, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington State University that are involved in studying threatened salamanders and frogs in wetlands.

Their project focuses on critically endangers species, like the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander. It only breeds exclusively in a dozen ponds form Aptos to Castroville.

In Monterey County, there are only a few breeding locations and there are many ponds near the long-toed salamander that have never been sampled, according to Elkhorn Slough Reserve. They believe there are some breeding sites on privately-owned lands unknown to science, and that’s where the RADICAL team is asking for community support.

“Our dream is to learn that Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders are breeding in some parts of this region that we did not know about," Team leader Dr. Kerstin Wasson, Research Coordinator of the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, said. They're goal is to better understand where threatened salamanders and frogs in wetlands around Monterey, Moss Landing, Watsonville, Aptos, and Santa Cruz are located to help with future conservation strategies.

In 2022, the team plans to sample over 100 wetlands, hoping to detect traces of DNA samples of
endangered amphibians. The team is asking landowners with wetlands or ponds on their property help by inviting the team to collect and analyze the water samples from their land.

Having official record of federally listed species on a landowners property could make it difficult for them to get building permits, but RADICAL team promises to protect the landowner's privacy by no including their name, address or geographic coordinates in the analyses, presentations or papers. They also said that none those records will be filed with any government databases and that the data will only be used for "broad-scale conversations planning."

Property owners willing to collaborate in this project can requested to fill out a brief survey here.

The RADICAL team (Rare Amphibian Detection In CALifornia) is comprised of conservation
practitioners and scientists from the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Lucia Reserve, US
Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington State University. The team covers a broad range of expertise,
including conservation planning, amphibian natural history, and cutting edge genetic research.