Hello all! My name is Mireya, and I've been a biologist intern at the Ventura US Fish & Wildlife field office for about a month now. So far, one of my favorite aspects of this job has been the various field opportunities I've been fortunate enough to join. For my first blog post, I thought I would share a little about one field trip that coincidentally occurred during Latino Conservation Week!

This field experience was located in Piru Creek in Fillmore, CA, and the reason behind it was to look for viable habitat for the Arroyo toad. Arroyo toad is federally listed as endangered and as an amphibian requires water to reproduce. So, we were looking for any pools of water that didn't look like it would dry out any time soon. We hiked into the Los Padres National Forest, and we didn’t have much luck finding creeks with water; most of them were bone dry. A genuine reminder of climate change and droughts' effects on our native wildlife.

After not finding much viable Arroyo toad habitat, we hiked further into Los Padres to where there was an active California condor nest. Located in a crevice on the side of a mountain was a condor nest, and I could peer into a spotting scope and see the nesting cavity. And while the chick was out of view and the parents were elsewhere, knowing just how close condors were to becoming extinct, it was still awe-inspiring to know that somewhere in that cavity was a condor chick out in the wild.

We ended the field experience in a creek that was still full of water and very beautiful. I enjoyed watching multiple dragonflies flitting across the water. Unfortunately, the creek was home to various bullfrogs and crayfish, both invasive and voracious predators who will prey upon Arroyo toads. The presence of these invasive species meant we were unlikely to see Arroyo toads in the creek.

I believe this field experience stood out to me because I witnessed firsthand the real effects of climate change and invasive species on our local wildlife. I learned about these things as a student, but seeing them firsthand was very powerful. There was a silver lining, as one of the biologists explained that Arroyo toads are used to dynamic water systems; however, the invasives are not and require permanent standing water. So one positive is that the invasives won't be able to survive drought conditions. While weakened, it would be the time to strike and hopefully eliminate the invasives from the area, allowing Arroyo toads and other native species to live in Piru Creek without competing or being predated upon by invasive species. I hope to witness that one day and travel back to Piru Creek and, this time, find it full of native species. 

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service

Location: Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office