What can we do to save the San Joaquin Umbrella Species?
Our progression is leading to the depression of the San Joaquin Kit Fox.
By Cassandra Sanchez
 |
| http://esrp.csustan.edu/speciesprofiles/profile.php?sp= |
The smallest, carnivorous fox in North America, the San Joaquin Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), was listed as endangered on March 1967 but the recovery plan of the Kit Fox was posted in 1998. They were listed as endangered due their lack of range in the southern San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills. Male Kit Foxes are typically 32 inches in length and weigh about 5lbs. Females are a bit smaller than the males and breed only once a year and constantly move habitats which are their underground dens. The Kit foxes are coated with beautiful grey fur in the winter and tan coats in the summer. They feed off of kangaroo rats, pocket mice, rabbits, reptiles, berries, and insects and are prey to coyotes, eagles, and bobcats. The possible extinction of these Kit Foxes could potentially pose a major threat to other animals due to the fact that they are an umbrella species and a keystone species—animals identified as umbrella species protect many habitat types and the species that inhabit those areas and animals identified as a keystone species are species that other species in an ecosystem largely depend on. If that species were to be removed from the ecosystem, the ecosystem would be negatively altered.
Since the nocturnal San Joaquin Kit Fox is an
umbrella species and a keystone species, it is an interim goal that they are delisted from endangered to
threatened. Not that it isn’t important for the species to recover if they
weren’t an umbrella species, but the recovery of the San Joaquin Kit Fox is of
primary importance than other species in the San Joaquin Valley because it is
more difficult to recover the kit foxes, but “fulfilling the fox’s needs also
meets those of many other species” (ecos.fws.org) as well. The San Joaquin kit fox inhabited California’s San Joaquin Valley before 1930. The populations of Kit foxes extended from southern Kern County to eastern Contra Costa County By 1930 its range may have been reduced to half, mostly in the southern and western San Joaquin Valley and foothills. The San Joaquin kit fox currently resides in "highly fragmented landscape of scattered remnants of native habitat". (epa.gov) These little creatures used to inhabit part of my home, but due to the building of new roads and cities, their homes are being destroyed for the development of my home of Bakersfield in particular. Not only are the roads an issue, but the roads allow for animals to be accidently ran over and killed as well. The highest threats posed to the critters are agricultural conversion, infrastructure construction, and urban development. Also, the siting of solar facilities in kit fox core, satellite, and linkage areas (areas of separated populations of Kit Foxes) poses a threat as well and could affect the populations of the Kit Fox.
The plan to recover this umbrella species utilizes a ecosystem approach due to the dominance of humans in the San Joaquin valley, especially Bakersfield which is my hometown. The city of Bakersfield has been planning to create artificial dens to provide long term benefits toward the increase of the Kit Fox population. Basically, the primary action taken right now is to conserve the remaining habitats of the kit foxes and reunite the other populations together because habitat fragmentation is contributing to the decrease in individual populations. The San Joaquin Valley as a whole has created several canal "right-of-ways" that serve as travel corridors between northern and central occurrences of the species along either side of the canal. The natural lands in canal right-of-ways have provided relatively abundant passageways.
 |
Now, what could we do?
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife provided us with helpful tips to help contribute to the protection of these critters:
- Never feed a kit fox or other wildlife; keep pet food indoors.
- Remove sources of water.
- Seal trash containers to prevent access.
- Put away bird feeders at night to avoid attracting rodents and other prey.
- Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.
- Don't trap stray cats in areas used by kit foxes. Trapped foxes could get injured and their pups are vulnerable when unattended.
- Never fill or destroy a burrow that may be used by kit foxes. State and federal laws protect their burrows.
- Take down sports nets at schools, parks and other recreational facilities when not in use. Store furled and out of reach, especially at night.
- Avoid the use of rodent poisons in kit fox habitat.
Additional Resources--
Here is a printable pdf brochure from Keepmewild.org on how to help increase the fitness of our San Joaquin Kit Foxes:
THANK YOU FOR READING!
Works Cited
“Innovative Approach to the Recovery of the San Joaquin Kit Fox.” Innovative Approach to the Recovery of the San Joaquin Kit Fox, http://www.icoet.net/ICOET_2013/documents/papers/ICOET2013_Paper211D_Gray.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov 2016.
“San Joaquin Valley Fever.” SpringerReference, http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc3222.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov 2016.
"Recovery Plan." SpringerReference, http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/980930a.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov 2016
"Endangered Species Facts". EPA, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-08/documents/san-joaquin-kitfox.pdf. Accessed 2 Dec 2016.
It was great to see research about a species that you were familiar with, but still had some misconceptions about. It is much easier to have no empathy for a species labelled as dangerous, but that just hurts our invaluable biodiversity. Also, it was very cool to see that to help we could "adopt" a kit fox.
ReplyDeleteCecilia Solorio