Assessing Impact of Invasive Crayfish Removal on Endangered Species in San Francisquito Creek (CA)

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant research

Group Project

This project aims to manage the invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) in the San Francisquito Creek (Santa Clara River, Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita, CA; inside the Copper Fire burn perimeter) to improve aquatic habitat for the Federally Threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) (“RLF”) and the Federally and State Endangered unarmored threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni) (“UTS”). A combination of trapping, biodiversity monitoring, behavioral experiments, and mathematical modeling will be used over a two-year period to measure the positive impact to biodiversity that crayfish removal has in this system.