Wyoming toads and cattle: at home on the range

              January 1998
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Wyoming Toads and Cattle:
at Home on the Range
“They let me turn the first
toad loose. They honored
me that way.” That was
what Charlie Swanson said
about releasing endangered
Wyoming toads on Buford
Foundation land near his
Albany County ranch.
Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri). Photo by Jason
Palmer, USFWS
Rancher Charlie Swanson and Wyoming toad recovery team member Deedee Runner at the
Buford Foundation Safe Harbor site. Photo by Terry Smith, USFWS
Such an event once would have seemed
impossible. Biologists feared that the
Wyoming toad was extinct until 1987
when a fisherman discovered a
population at Mortenson Lake on
Swanson’s land. The discovery created
excitement about a chance to save the
species and its habitat, and it led
Swanson to sell the site to The Nature
Conservancy. The Fish and Wildlife
Service later bought it to create
Mortenson Lake National Wildlife
Refuge.
But this site alone cannot ensure the
species’ future. The Wyoming Toad
Recovery Plan calls for actions such as
breeding toads in captivity and re-establishing
them in areas within their
historical range in southern Wyoming’s
Laramie River Basin.
The Buford Foundation, which runs a
privately funded outdoor camp for urban
children, owns land that contains habitat
suitable for the Wyoming toad.
Members of the species recovery team
approached the Foundation’s president,
Dave Mangelsen, about the possibility of
releasing toads onto its property. The
Foundation volunteered to join the
recovery effort under the umbrella of a
Safe Harbor Agreement between the
Laramie Rivers Conservation District
and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
As an enrollee in the agreement, the
Buford Foundation allows the
reintroduction of Wyoming toads on its
land and carries out wetlands
restoration activities, confident that its
land uses such as livestock grazing and
crop irrigation are consistent with
species protections called for under the
Endangered Species Act. The
agreement also protects adjacent
landowners against liability for the
incidental take of any toads that move
onto their property during traditional
agricultural activities. This protection
provides peace of mind for owners of
three large ranches with wetlands that
cross property lines.
So far, recovery team members have
reintroduced more than 6,000 captive-bred
tadpoles, toadlets, and toads into
wetlands on the Buford Foundation
property.
“Without the support of Dave
Mangelsen, we never would have been
able to get the toads out there,” said
Brian Kelly, field supervisor of the
Service’s office in Cheyenne.
The help of ranchers like Swanson is
also important. As a member of the
Wyoming Toad Recovery Team, he
provides recommendations to the
Service for managing the toads at the
refuge and at the Buford property.
“Charlie Swanson pretty much woke up
people that grazing was a necessary part
of the equation—instrumental in the
recovery of the toad,” says Dallas
Talbott, a rancher who grazes cattle on
January 1998
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Endangered Species Program
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 420
Arlington, VA 22203
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office
5353 Yellowstone Road, Suite 308A
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009
www.fws.gov/endangered
June 2006
Bradley P. Rogers and Andrea Gray of the
Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cheyenne Office
and Art Anderson, manager of Buford
Foundation, restore habitat for endangered
Wyoming toads. USFWS photo
part of the Buford property. Wyoming
toads use short grass and warm, shallow
water—conditions that rotational
grazing can create and maintain.
Swanson’s management activities—
lowering the levels of lakes in June to
irrigate hay meadows— warm the water
and extend the shoreline, creating
breeding habitat just when the toads lay
their eggs. Cattle grazing also controls
plant growth. With grass reduced to
three inches tall, the ground is warm
and inviting to the toads.
Much remains unknown about Wyoming
toads. They have a high mortality rate,
and as Art Anderson, manager for the
Buford land, points out, “Five percent is
a good figure for survival to adulthood.”
The toads are riparian amphibians and
stay close to aquatic areas. Like toads
and frogs around the world, the
Wyoming toad is susceptible to chytrid
fungus infections. Future research
includes using telemetry devices to find
out where the toads go, what habitat
they use, and what they do during winter
months.
Through the Wetland Reserve Program,
the Buford Foundation has a permanent
conservation easement for 300 acres of
wetlands, including the area where the
toads were released. Biologist Paul
Obert of the Natural Resources
Conservation Service in Wyoming notes
that the program can provide compatible
use authorization to optimize wetland
functions and values, including wildlife
and migratory birds. “Partners are
working together for this most
endangered amphibian,” he said.
Biologist Mike Lessard of the Service’s
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
credits the many partners for the
success to date. “On the Refuge, NRCS
plugged the ditches and reconstructed
water control structures, and the toads
were thriving. We developed nine more
toad-brood rearing wetlands. Grazing
cattle and diverting water to simulate an
oxbow wetland helped to duplicate river
action.”
The Saratoga National Fish Hatchery
and the Sybille Wyoming Toad Captive
Rearing Facility produced the Wyoming
toad tadpoles, toadlets, and adults
released at Buford. The Wyoming Fish
and Game Department has supported
the captive-breeding program for many
years and operated the Sybille facility
until 2004, when it transferred the
facility to the Service.
Tony Hoch, Laramie Rivers
Conservation District manager, sums it
up: “We are optimistic that this
precedent will pave the way for future
collaborations related to some
endangered species.” This conservation
work is truly a partnership initiative.
Buford Foundation property, Albany County, Wyoming. USFWS photo
Facilities that maintain captive
populations of Wyoming toads include:
􀁏􄼠 Zoo Montana, Billings, MT
􀁏􄼠 Sybille Wyoming Toad Facility, Laramie,
WY
􀁏􄼠 Saratoga National Fish Hatchery,
Saratoga, WY
􀁏􄼠 Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA
􀁏􄼠 Toledo Zoo, Toledo, OH
􀁏􄼠 Central Park Zoo, New York, NY
􀁏􄼠 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado
Springs, CO
􀁏􄼠 Detroit Zoo, Detroit, MI
􀁏􄼠 Houston Zoo, Houston, TX
􀁏􄼠 Memphis Zoo, Memphis, TN
􀁏􄼠 Mississippi River Museum, Dubuque, IA
􀁏􄼠 Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, NE
􀁏􄼠 Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis, MO
􀁏􄼠 Moody Gardens, Galveston, TX
􀁏􄼠 Museum of Science, Boston, MA