July 4, 2007
Cope's Project
Beginning this summer we will be attempting to document the range of COPE'S GIANT SALAMANDER (Dicamptodon copei) in the Oregon Coast Range. We began the project on June 27 when Lee Cain and I went looking for the long lost location, originally discovered by R.A Nussbaum in the 1970's, for Cope's on the S. Fork of Quartz Creek. We found them with remarkable ease.
As reported in this blog last month, genetic testing indicates that Cope's Salamanders south of the Columbia Rivers are genetically distinct from their closest relatives in Washington. Over the course of this summer we hope to check similar habitat in unexpored streams throughout Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook Counties to further define the actual range of Cope's in the Coast Range.