Pacific Biological Consulting

	California Tiger Salamander

	Burke's goldfields

	Sonoma sunshine

	Sebastopol meadowfoam

California Tiger Salamder
California tiger salamanders (CTS) are large, stocky amphibians with broad, rounded snouts. Adults range in size from 6-10" in length. They have white or pale yellow spots and bars on a black background. The salamander's small eyes protrude from their heads. They have black irises.

CTS spend much of their lives in small mammal burrows (in particular, those of ground squirrels and pocket gophers). CTS undergo a period of dormancy (aestivation) in response to hot, dry weather. Once rains begin they emerge from their burrows at night to feed and migrate to breeding ponds. Adults may migrate up to 1.2 miles from their summering grounds to breeding areas.

The Service has issued a final rule listing the Sonoma County Distinct Population Segment of the California tiger salamander as endangered, under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.
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Burke's goldfields (Lasthenia burkei)
is a small, slender annual herb in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It has narrow, opposite leaves. The plant can be easily confused with other goldfields such as Contra Costa goldfields (L. conjugens) by people not trained in botany.

Flowers bloom from April until June. Both the ray and disk flowers are yellow, while the pappus (seed appendage that aids dispersal by acting like a little parachute) usually consists of one long bristle and several short bristles.

DISTRIBUTION:
This vernal pool species is known only from southern portions of Lake and Mendocino counties and from northeastern Sonoma County. Historically, 39 populations were known from the Cotati valley, 2 sites in Lake county, and one site in Mendocino County. The occurrence in Mendocino County is most likely extirpated. From north to south in the Cotati Valley, the species ranges from north of the community of Windsor to east of the city of Sebastopol.

Sonoma sunshine (Blennosperma bakeri)
is a small (up to 12 inches in height), annual herb in the aster family (Asteraceae). The plant has alternate, narrow, hairless leaves, 2 to 6 inches long. The upper ones have 1 to 3 lobes, the lower ones none.

From March through April, the species produces yellow daisy-like flowers. The yellow disk flowers have white pollen and stigmas. Sterile ray flowers, which are yellow or sometimes white, have red stigmas. The lobe pattern of the leaves and the color of ray stigmas separate this species from other in the genus.

DISTRIBUTION:
Blennosperma bakeri is found in grasslands and vernal pools. The species is restricted to the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Sonoma areas in Sonoma County. According to the California Natural Diversity Database, there are currently 22 populations believed to be extant. Several other populations have been extirpated.

Sebastopol meadowfoam (Limnanthes vinculans)
is a small (up to 12-inch tall), multi-stemmed herb of the false meadowfoam family (Limnanthaceae). Although the first leaves are narrow and undivided, leaves on the mature plant have three to five undivided leaflets along each side of a long stalk (petiole). The shape of the leaves distinguishes Sebastopol meadowfoam from other members of the Limnanthes genus.

Small, bowl-shaped, white flowers appear April through May. The white flowers are born singly at the end of stems.

DISTRIBUTION:
The species has not been recorded outside southwestern Cotati Valley, where it occurs in less than thirty locations. It is found in seasonally wet meadows, swales and vernal pools in the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Sonoma County. The species ranges from the city of Graton, east to Santa Rosa, southeast to Scenic Avenue, and southwest to the community of Cunningham, largely surrounding the northern and western perimeter of the city of Sebastopol.