4VAC15-20-130. Definitions and Miscellaneous: In General. Endangered and threatened species; adoption of federal list; additional species enumerated.
Summary
The proposal is to designate an Eastern Tiger Salamander Experimental Population on certain lands in Sussex County.
Proposed Language
Note: In the “Proposed Language” document, underlined text denotes proposed new language, while text with a strikethrough denotes language that is proposed to be deleted.
Rationale
The Eastern Tiger Salamander is a state endangered species in threat of extirpation from Virginia’s coastal plain. All three currently-known populations occur on unprotected private lands where land management actions may negatively impact the animals themselves or the habitat in which they live or in an area experiencing substantial growth and urbanization. One of the conservation actions included within the approved DWR 2025 Eastern Tiger Salamander Conservation Plan is translocation of this species to other locations to establish new populations that increase overall resiliency, redundancy, and representation of the species on the landscape. The initially-identified experimental population would be established in appropriate habitat on the DWR’s Big Woods Wildlife Management Area in Sussex County. To ensure this does not result in any additional regulatory burden to our citizens, staff recommends the Board designate an Eastern Tiger Salamander Experimental Population with the spatial extent to include lands within the borders of Big Woods WMA and The Nature Conservancy’s Piney Grove Preserve. The inclusion of Piney Grove Preserve recognizes that, at the identified suitable habitat, the roaming range of this species (300 meters) may result in salamanders occurring on this property. The DWR has received the support of The Nature Conservancy and recognition that animals from this population may be found on that property. The DWR staffs have also met with the Sussex County Administrator and landowners around these properties and received support for this conservation action at this site. As the agency monitors the success of this action, it may update the Conservation Plan and recommend amendments to this regulation to designate additional areas of experimental populations.