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The Alameda whipsnake, also called the Alameda striped racer, features sporty yellow racing stripes and exceptional speed, but it hasn’t been able to outrace rapid urban sprawl in its coastal scrub, chaparral, and grassland habitats in the hills east of the San Francisco Bay. Development and road construction have fragmented the whipsnake’s originally continuous range into five declining populations.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS:
Threatened
YEAR PLACED ON LIST:
1997
CRITICAL HABITAT:
154,834 acres in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and San Joaquin counties designated in 2006
RECOVERY PLAN: Draft 2003
RANGE:
Alameda, Contra Costa, western San Joaquin and northern Santa Clara counties
THREATS:
Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation due to urban development, road construction, livestock grazing, and fire suppression
POPULATION TREND:
Alameda whipsnakes have been fragmented into five mostly isolated sub-populations whose numbers are unknown, but which are certain to be rapidly declining as suitable habitat is lost to urban development. Whipsnakes were eliminated from 35 of 60 known historical localities by 1992.
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SAVING THE Alameda Whipsnake
The Center for Biological Diversity teamed up with Christians Caring for Creation to protect this endangered serpent, initially securing a designation of more than 400,000 acres of critical habitat for the species. Though the Center subsequently fought off building-industry attempts to eliminate much of this habitat protection, in 2005 the Bush administration cut the protected areas by more than 60 percent under the direction of disgraced former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald. In August 2007, the Center fought back by submitting a notice of intent to sue the Bush Administration over the whipsnake’s critical habitat designation and 54 other illegal Endangered Species Act decisions. We’ve also taken on numerous urban sprawl development projects in the San Francisco Bay Area to ensure that these rare snakes aren’t chased out of their few remaining refuges.
Rodenticides, burrow fumigants, herbicides, and pesticides that may harm the Alameda whipsnake directly — or indirectly, through prey reduction or habitat alteration — are used in and near critical habitat for the whipsnake in the East Bay. The Center is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s registration and authorization-for-use of 46 toxic pesticides in habitats for San Francisco Bay Area endangered species, and we continue to monitor and oppose harmful chemical pesticide use in California through our Pesticides Reduction Campaign.
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Contact: Jeff Miller
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