News
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Recently added publications
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Dr. Patrick Kelly receives U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Champion Award for riparian brush rabbit conservation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2008 Recovery Champions, Region 8
Dr. Patrick Kelly
California State University, Stanislaus
Riparian brush rabbit
Dr. Patrick Kelly is a Recovery Champion for his work in conserving riparian brush rabbits. His leadership in recovering this species is particularly notable in that after the 1997 Central Valley floods there was concern that riparian brush rabbits no longer existed. Dr. Kelly has been applauded for his “watchful eye, passionate commitment, scrupulous focus and leadership.” His work has included capturing animals for a propagation program, health-checking the young, radio-collaring and tagging, releasing into the wild, and then monitoring the rabbits for survival, healthy reproduction, and habitat use. Dr. Kelly has introduced riparian brush rabbits onto the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent private land. He has saved the riparian brush rabbit from the brink of extinction and transported it to the road to recovery.
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CSU Stanislaus scientists honored for kit fox scent dog research work
A research project on the endangered San Joaquin kit fox conducted by a
group of California State University, Stanislaus scientists and collaborators
at the Smithsonian Institution has been recognized with a prestigious award by the
Southwestern Association of Naturalists for their paper
Relative abundance of endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica) based on scat-detection dog surveys.
Deborah Smith with Rio, a dog specially trained for scat detection.
The Arkansas-based conservation organization awarded the 2007 George Miksch
Sutton Award in Conservation Research to a seven-member scientific team that
included Dr. Patrick Kelly, CSU Stanislaus Professor of Zoology and
Coordinator of the University's Endangered Species Recovery Program (ESRP);
Dr. Dan Williams, retired CSU Stanislaus Professor of Zoology and founder and
former coordinator of the ESRP; and Dr. Brian Cypher, ESRP Associate Director
and Research Ecologist who directs the University program's Bakersfield office.
The project was led by Dr. Deborah Smith of Hughson, a founding partner of the
non-profit Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation, toward completion of her
Ph.D. at the University of Washington. Dr. Katherine Ralls and Dr. Jesus
Maldonado of the Smithsonian Institution and Howard Clark Jr., formerly a
wildlife biologist with ESRP, were also actively involved in the research.
Full copy of press release
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Return of the Rabbits, ESRP featured cover story in California State University,
Stanislaus Magazine.
About the Program
The Endangered Species Recovery Program is a cooperative research
program on biodiversity conservation in central California, administered by
California State University, Stanislaus Foundation.
The program was established in August 1992 at the request and with the support
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation,
under the direction of Dr. Dan Williams at CSU Stanislaus. Over the past
decade, ESRP has grown into a cooperative research program working with
local, State, and Federal agencies, non-governmental organizations,
corporations, and private land owners.
ESRP is composed of about 30 biologists, students, and support staff,
several research associates, and numerous collaborators in government
and universities worldwide whose combined expertise and contributions
are integral to the recovery of threatened and endangered species in
Central California. ESRP biologists are based in Fresno, Turlock,
Bakersfield, and the Bay Area.
Mission Statement
The Endangered Species Recovery Program's mission is to facilitate
endangered species recovery and resolve conservation conflicts through
scientifically based recovery planning and implementation.
Narrative
The central elements in the recovery of endangered and threatened
species are: identifying the biological processes critical to achieving
self-sustaining populations of jeopardized species and their ecosystems;
developing sound species recovery and natural community management
prescriptions; and identifying the social interests and entities
that must be reconciled and work together in implementing recovery
strategies. Such a recovery process necessarily implies the integration
of all planning and implementation actions within a broadly inclusive
public-private partnership to achieve a product that is environmentally
sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable.
