Calling Anuran Surveys in the West Mountain Wildlife Management Area and the Nulhegan Basin Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
Published By US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior
Issued over 9 years ago
Summary
Description
In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources acquired two adjacent properties encompassing 48,000 acres of former timberland in Essex County, Vermont. The Nulhegan Basin Division and the West Mountain Wildlife Management Area contain regionally significant wetlands that support potentially vulnerable amphibian populations. During the spring and summer of2001, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science conducted three calling anuran surveys at seven of the areas wetland complexes. The objectives were to gather distribution and abundance information for stewardship planning and to establish a baseline for future monitoring. We detected all seven species that had been inventoried the previous year by Andrews 2001. Although the roadbased surveys did not reach remote wetland habitat, they helped reveal an emerging pattern of species distribution and abundance. Two wetland complexes, Upper Yellow Branch Wetlands and Wheeler PondWheeler Stream Wetlands, appear to hold high conservation value for the anuran community. Each harbors six species,including Mink Frog, the regions only anuran with a restricted Vermont range. The author presents recommendations for conserving Mink Frogs and significant wetland habitat. They include the establishment of a longterm monitoring program that integrates nighttime call surveys and daytime searches. Such an approach would allow land managers to evaluate the effects of stewardship activity and measure progress toward achieving anuran conservation goals.