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Mazama Pocket Gopher

Mazama pocket gopher - credit Rod Gilbert

Mazama Pocket Gopher

(Thomomys mazama)

The Mazama pocket gopher is a medium sized burrowing rodent that is endemic to western Washington, western Oregon and northern California.  Gophers tunnel underground, aerating the soil and creating mounds that are well suited to the growth of native wildflowers.  Of the nine subspecies, four (Olympia Tenino, Yelm and Roy) are found in prairies in south Puget Sound, the region of emphasis for this working group.  Due to declining and fragmented prairies habitat in the region, the population of these four subspecies is considered at risk.  In April 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated four south Puget Sound subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

CPOP and the Species-Specific Working Group
The Cascadia Prairie-Oak Partnership (CPOP) is an ecoregional group that brings together conservation focused professionals that represent state, federal and local government, military, conservation groups and other entities interested in prairie-oak conservation. CPOP was created to increase coordination between these groups in order to promote conservation action, leverage funding, and expand recovery efforts. The Mazama pocket gopher working group first convened in 2010 and meets annually to discuss and prioritize recovery actions.

What is an Action Plan and what is its purpose?
Each CPOP working group maintains an Action Plan, a document that lists the ‘next best tasks’ that can be taken to improve the status of the species and ranks the highest priority actions. Each year at the annual meeting the list is updated to reflect completed work, new opportunities and changes in urgency. The Action Plan is meant to encourage dialogue and consensus among the group as well as to inform entities that work with conservation policies and funding, such as US Fish and Wildlife Service, as to what actions are priorities to support the recovery of the Mazama pocket gopher.


2015-2016 Action Plan Ranked Priorities

  1. Protect occupied habitat via land purchase, easements, voluntary conservation, etc.
  2. Create long-term strategy to address development pressure via regulation (e.g. mitigation bank, interim permitting strategy, HCP).
  3. Develop a comprehensive survey/monitoring scheme to address probability of occurrence, assess site occupancy, and monitor trends at multiple scales.
  4. Implement habitat restoration, maintenance and enhancement.
  5. Use genetic information to inform management units and/or focal areas.
  6. Ensure explicit gopher protections are included in agriculture easements and develop mechanism and resources to ensure protections are implemented.
  7. Determine population vital rates (e.g., survival, reproduction, etc.) and factors that might affect those rates to inform determination of sustainable population size relative to habitat patch size and quality.
  8. Develop and implement a regional, cooperative communications strategy for multiple audiences.
  9. Develop and implement spatially-explicit plans to restore, enhance, maintain habitat.
  10. Identify important habitat and landscape features.
  11. Determine relationship between gopher occurrence and soil type and structure.
  12. Assess effectiveness of habitat protection areas for gopher conservation (e.g., set-aside, mitigation bank).
  13. Maintain active working group, information sharing, and collaborative action.

Recently Completed Actions

Since the first Action Plan was created in 2010, the following notable tasks have been completed or have made substantial progress:
  • An integrated strategy to remove invasive plants is being implemented on multiple protected lands in the South Sound
  • Translocation methods have been researched and tested, resulting in two translocations, both of which show the species persisting.
  • Genetic studies have been funded and research has begun
  • A study has been initiated to better understand movement of gophers and the level of dispersal that occurs.
  • An expanded survey was conducted over multiple sites
  • Positive outreach to the community and landowners has increased.
    • FWS created and distributed a fact card for landowners that explained the differences between gophers and moles.
    • Thurston County produced videos to correct misunderstandings about local regulations that affect prairies landowners.
  • Thurston County initiated a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), to guide development and conservation in the County.
Mazama Pocket Gopher Status 2013
  • 2017-2018 Action Plan
  • 2016-2017 Action Plan
  • 2016 Working Group Minutes
  • 2015-2016 Working Group Summary
  • 2015-2016 Action Plan
  • 2015 Working Group Minutes
  • 2014-2015 Action Plan
  • 2014 Working Group Minutes
  • 2013-2014 Action Plan
  • 2013 Working Group Minutes
  • 2012-2013 Action Plan

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This page is managed by the Center for Natural Lands Management for the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership. All rights reserved.