Western Toad - Habitat

Habitat

The boreal toad is found in the Rocky Mountains in aspen (Populus spp.) groves and riparian forests. In Colorado, the largest populations are typically found in areas characterized by willows (Salix spp.), bog birch (Betula glandulosa), and shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa). In the Pacific Northwest, the western toad occurs in mountain meadows and less commonly in Douglas-fir forests (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

In California, optimum habitat for the western toad includes wet or dry mountain meadows or riparian deciduous forest with available open water for breeding. Suitable habitat includes blue oak (Quercus douglasii) savanna, gray pine-oak forest (Pinus sabiniana-Quercus spp.), mixed conifer forest, and alpine meadows. Marginal habitats include annual grasslands, chaparral, ponderosa pine forests, California black oak woodlands, Jeffrey pine forests, and red fir forests.

In the Sierra Nevada, the western toad occurs in mid-elevation pine forests (including Jeffrey pine Pinus jeffreyi at higher elevations and ponderosa pine at lower elevations), California black oak woodlands, giant sequoia groves (Sequoiadendron giganteum), montane fir forest (which includes white fir, red fir, and western white pine ), and redwood forest Sequoia sempervirens. It is also found in riparian areas within sagebrush-pinyon communities (Artemisia spp.-Pinus spp.), oak-pine woodland and savanna (including coast live oak, interior live oak, and canyon live oak ), and California coastal forest and scrub.

Western toads have been collected from sedge meadows near a pond occurring in a creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) community, and from aspen (Populus spp.)-willow groves within big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)-grassland.