This project was a collaborative effort between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Amphibian and Reptile Species of Special Concern Technical Advisory Committee, and contributors from government agencies, universities, nongovernmental organizations, and private citizens drawn from across California. Without the guidance, assistance, and advice from many individuals, this project would not have been possible. In particular, we thank Betsy Bolster for her help and support through all phases of this project. Betsy’s deep experience has been indispensable in guiding and focusing the scope and aims for our efforts, and her advice has been an indispensable part of the success of the project. We also thank Kristi Cripe for her efforts and expertise in developing the maps for this document and her general advice on cartography. Sean Barry, Robert Fisher, and Hart Welsh, together comprising our Technical Advisory Committee, constituted a key resource at several phases of this project. Their advice directly shaped the development of the scoring metrics, nominee list, and the composition of the final Species of Special Concern list. They also provided extensive unpublished data and knowledge about California’s amphibians and reptiles, answered countless questions, and served as a sounding board throughout the project.
Many people contributed at various points in the project by providing feedback on the metric scoring system, suggesting additional taxa for review, contributing their unpublished data, answering questions, and providing advice: Allison Alberts, Jack Allen, Bertin Anderson, Don Ashton, Curt Babcock, Michael Bank, Anthony Barley, Kent Beaman, Beth Behm, Mike Benard, Stephen Bennett, Carol Berry, Jamie Betasso, Ryan Bourque, David Bradford, Cathy Brown, Jeff Brown, Tracey Brown, Gary Bucciarelli, Allen Calvert, Becky Chong, David Cook, Joe Croteau, Robert Douglas, Erik Dugan, Jeremiah Easter, Tag Engstrom, Bobby Espinoza, Edward Ervin, Robert Fisher, Marina Gerson, Levi Gray, Luke Groff, Ken Halama, Bob Hansen, Marc Hayes, Brian Hinds, Garth Hodgson, Brian Hubbs, Elizabeth Jockusch, Jarrett Johnson, Christina Jones, Mark Jorgensen, Roland Knapp, Linda Kuhnz, Adam Leaché, Dean Leavitt, Jeff Lemm, Karen Leyse, Amy Lind, Jeff Lovich, Clark Marhdt, Mike Oldham, Ted Papenfuss, Jim Parham, Greg Pauly, Ryan Peek, Michael Peters, Jonah Piovia-Scott, Karen Pope, Sean Reilly, Jonathan Richmond, Jim Rorabaugh, Sean Rovito, Wesley Savage, Kirk Setser, Jackson Shedd, Christina Sousa, Lara Sparks, Phillip Spinks, Mike Sredl, Rick Staub, Sam Sweet, John Swett, Dick Tracy, Michael van Hattem, Kent Vansooy, David Wake, Ian Wang, Nick Waters, Clara Wheeler, Dustin Wood, and Brenda Zaun.
Several museum collections and other sources of locality data allowed the use of their data in constructing the species range maps. These data greatly improved the quality of the maps, and we appreciate the generosity of these collections: American Museum of Natural History, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University, California Academy of Sciences, California Academy of Sciences (Stanford University Collection), California State University at Chico, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Cincinnati Museum Center, Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, Humboldt State University, Los Angeles County Museum, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at University of California, Berkeley, National Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, San Diego Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Slater Museum of Natural History, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, University of Alberta Museum of Zoology, University of Arizona Museum of Natural History, University of California, Davis – Zoology Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, University of Nevada, Reno, University of Texas at El Paso, Yale Peabody Museum, and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In addition to museum collections, we also appreciate the locality information that we obtained from the following sources: CalPhotos (UC Berkeley), California Biogeographic Information and Observation System, California Natural Diversity Database, Mendocino Redwood Company, North American Field Herping Association, United States Forest Service, and the United States Geological Survey. Finally, we would like to thank several individuals that contributed the photographs for use in this book: John Andermann, Beth Behm, Adam Clause, William Flaxington, Brian Freiermuth, Rob Grasso, Robert Hansen, Nicholas Hess, Robert Hess, Troy Hibbitts, Jeff Lemm, Rob Lovich, Luke Mahler, Rob Schell, Barrett Scurlock, and Jackson Shedd.
The review process for this document was extensive, and we appreciate the effort that so many people made toward reading, editing, and improving the document. In particular, Betsy Bolster, Lyanne Comrack, Scott Osborn, Laura Patterson, and Dale Steele provided an extensive review of the document and provided guidance on policy-related matters. We also thank the large group of dedicated individuals who provided peer reviews of one or more species accounts or the document as a whole: Bernard Aguilar, Adam Backlin, Amy Bailey, Cam Barrows, Sean Barry, Kent Beaman, Mike Benard, Bob Bezy, Jeff Boundy, David Bradford, Jennifer Bull, Bruce Bury, Becky Chong, Jack Crayon, Catherine Darst, Carlos Davidson, Lowell Diller, Paul Divine, Dawne Emery, Tag Engstrom, James Erdman, Ed Ervin, Bobby Espinoza, Gary Fellers, Mark Fisher, Robert Fisher, Terra Fuller, Justin Garwood, Dave Germano, Levi Gray, Luke Groff, Bob Hansen, Marc Hayes, Brian Hinds, Garth Hodgson, Jef Jaeger, Elizabeth Jockusch, Sharon Keeney, Roland Knapp, Shawn Kuchta, Sarah Kupferberg, Kris Lappin, Dean Leavitt, Christina Liang, Amy Lind, Mitch Lockhart, Jeff Lovich, Rob Lovich, Winsor Lowe, Clark Mahrdt, Steve Morey, Peter Moyle, Bob Murphy, Al Muth, Ted Papenfuss, Jim Parham, Greg Pauly, Chris Pearl, Jonah Piovia-Scott, Karen Pope, Sean Reilly, Carlton Rochester, Wesley Savage, Arthur Shapiro, Jackson Shedd, Phillip Spinks, Glenn Stewart, Paul Stone, Sam Sweet, Michael van Hattem, David Wake, Ian Wang, Nick Waters, Jim Weigand, and Hart Welsh.
Many current and former members of the Department of Biology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California at Davis also gave a substantial amount of time to this project. In particular, we would like to thank Anthony Barley, Gideon Bradburd, Adam Clause, Levi Gray, Ben Johnson, Jarrett Johnson, Max Lambert, Genevieve Mount, Cathy Newman, Greg Pauly, Maureen Ryan, Robyn Screen, Chris Searcy, Phillip Spinks, and Ian Wang for reading and providing feedback on several different parts of the project, as well as serving as a source of ideas and feedback. Adam Clause also generously donated the use of several photos for the project’s website.
Primary financial support for the Amphibian and Reptile Species of Special Concern project was provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Nongame Wildlife Program via a State 2006–07 One-Time General Fund Augmentation for Nongame Fish and Wildlife Trust Resources and State Wildlife Grant T-28-R-1 from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.