Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - complete list

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jonathan
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Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - complete list

Post by jonathan »

I'm going to do a writeup on NAFHA in 2014, and I want to make sure that I have all the info for the Rocky Mountain chapter. Here's what I know so far:


Surveys and research assistance

In April, a number of NAFHA members assisted the Nevada Speck Roundup organized by the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

In May, several NAFHA members joined the CO PARC survey at Cottonwood Canyon in Baca County, Colorado.

In June, COPARC and NAFHA organized a survey in the Comanche National Grasslands in Otero County, Colorado.

In July, NAFHA helped out with the survey co-organized by CO PARC, the Kansas Herpetological Society, and the Oklahoma Herpetological Society in the Tri-Corner area of southeast Colorado

Did the Carrizo County Survey in Baca County, CO (May 16-18), the Gates of Lodore Survey in Moffat Co, CO (June 6-8), or the Kansas Herp Society joint field trip with the Oklahoma Herp Society and COPARC in Morton County, KS (July 25-27) happen and get attended by NAFHA members?

Jeremy mentioned the chance to volunteer for the June boreal toad survey to help out the Utah DWR. Did anyone get a chance?

Phil Clevinger suggested helping the state herptologist of Nevada with data for the Wildlife Action Plan for several herp species. Did NAFHA members follow through?



Trips

Several NAFHA members made a trip together to St. George in April after poor weather pushed them out of a planned trip to the Great Basin National Park

The Rocky Mountain Chapter hosted the 2014 National Meeting, which included New Mexico

Were their any other chapter outings besides the already-mentioned surveys?



Data

3,389 NAHERP records were entered for the Rocky Mountain Chapter for this year, bringing the total for the chapter up to 13,032. (the breakdown is Colorado - 1380, Montana - 53, New Mexico - 590, Nevada - 1073, Utah - 282, Wyoming - 11)


NAHERP data requests involving the Rocky Mountain Chapter this year included:

* From the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to help re-assess species conservation statsus (NatureServe S-RANKS) for all Heritage-tracked native herps. Our data was used to help track species status and performance, evaluate the effectiveness of management programs, and help in the determination of staffing and funding priorities.

* From the USGS to augment species distribution models (predictive habitat suitability maps) for many snake and lizard species in the Mojave and Sonoran ecoregions (select areas of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah) in order to identify regions with high genetic diversity/divergence and high high suitability habitat.


Previous requests include a request by Dr. Lauren Livo for all amphibian data in Colorado to help generate maps for a Colorado field guide, a request from a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University for reptiles in the Great Plains in order to model distributions and identify hot spots of reptile diversity, a request by a PhD candidate at UC-Berkeley for collared lizard records in New Mexico in order to assist a study of reptile color adaptations to lava flows, a request by the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History for all Mediterranean House Gecko records in order to test models of range expansion, and a previous UDWR S-RANKS update request.



Education Events

Jimi's "Annual Pickle Party" was held in November


Anyone know about anything else for the chapter this year?
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Jason Hull
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - looking for info

Post by Jason Hull »

Phil Clevinger suggested helping the state herptologist of Nevada with data for the Wildlife Action Plan for several herp species. Did NAFHA members follow through?
Brian Hinds put me in touch with Jason at ndow earlier this season. We exchanged a couple of emails discussing the possibility of setting up some road cruising and study sites up north. We were going to try and hook up to make further plan but never did.
If I remember correctly he did mention constructing a data base request at some point.

Doubt any of that helps your write up much.
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Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - looking for info

Post by Jeremy Westerman »

I was the only one in the chapter who attended the utah DWR boreal toad survey.

A few chapter members (4 total) went to St. george detoured last minute after a planned meet with Bryan hamilton at Great Basin National Park went bad due to a chance late snow storm in April.
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jonathan
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - looking for info

Post by jonathan »

Thanks for the added info. It's been fun to see what's happened in each chapter this year.
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jonathan
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - looking for info

Post by jonathan »

I just updated the final 2014 database entry numbers for Arizona in the above post.

The summary for NAFHA's 2014 events across the nation is now posted at Everything that Happened with NAFHA in 2014.

If you want more details for other chapter, go to the individual sub-forums.
TimCO
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - complete list

Post by TimCO »

"Did the Carrizo County Survey in Baca County, CO (May 16-18), the Gates of Lodore Survey in Moffat Co, CO (June 6-8), or the Kansas Herp Society joint field trip with the Oklahoma Herp Society and COPARC in Morton County, KS (July 25-27) happen and get attended by NAFHA members?"

Affirmative on all three, with records entered in the database for all.
simpleyork
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Re: Rocky Mountain NAFHA in 2014 - complete list

Post by simpleyork »

not official chapter trips but Rye and I both spent time in St. George, find quite the array of herps. I do believe all were entered into the data base
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