“Paper or plastic?”
“Neither! I’ve got a SAVE THE FROGS! Tote Bag!

The SAVE THE FROGS! Tote Bag is absolutely the coolest, most useful tote bag on Planet Earth.

Here’s why:

(1) It’s made of 7 recycled plastic bottles, so it’s keeping bottles out of the landfills and oceans.

(2) It folds into its own pouch that fits in the palm of your hand, or easily in your purse or bookbag, so it’s always there when you need it.
Exhibit A: Portability

(3) It comes with a carabiner so you can take it anywhere: hook it on your harness when you’re climbing El Capitan or Mount Rainier.

(4) It’s stronger than a Goliath Frog (which could get eaten to extinction if we don’t act fast!). We’ve packed the SAVE THE FROGS! Tote Bag full of groceries (and it holds a lot of groceries!) and never seen any signs of stress on the bag.

(5) It’s easy to wash, and it dries fast.
Oops…your organic GMO-free soymilk leaked on your bag? No problem!

(6) It looks awesome. Really, it’s Pacific Blue…so you’ll feel like you’re here everytime you use it:

(7) Everybody stares in wild wonder at the SAVE THE FROGS! Tote Bag, so it helps spreads the word about amphibian extinctions and SAVE THE FROGS!.

Did we mention that once you have this bag (which is made by the friendly folks at ChicoBag), you’ll wonder how you lived your whole life without it?

(7.1) ALL PROCEEDS from sales of the bags go to support SAVE THE FROGS! amphibian conservation efforts.

(8) It looks awesome: It’s got a silhouette of a poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) on it.
And not just any poison dart frog: Clyde!

Oh yeah, you can get the bag FREE when you become a member of SAVE THE FROGS!

(9) This bag has been field-tested in the rainforests of Panama by SAVE THE FROGS! Advisory Committee Member, the world-reknowned batrachologist Dr. Andrew Crawford.

Dr. Crawford gives the bag a 100% “THIS BAG COMPLETELY ROCKS” rating!

(10) If you order one by 2pm EST Thursday, January 28th 2010, and we’ll give you two (2) SAVE THE FROGS! wristbands absolutely FREE!

So what are you waiting for?
Order your SAVE THE FROGS! Tote Bag here.

California Endangered Species Act Protection Sought to Save Mountain Yellow-legged Frog
From Exotic Trout, Habitat Destruction, and Disease

SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to list all populations of the highly imperiled mountain yellow-legged frog as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act. Mountain yellow-legged frogs inhabit high-elevation lakes, ponds, and streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Transverse Ranges of California and are on a rapid trend to extinction. Their rapid decline is due to predation by introduced trout, spread of diseases that may be exacerbated by exposure to pesticides, and habitat alterations caused by climate change, drought, and livestock grazing.

“Once the most abundant frog in the high Sierra, the mountain yellow-legged frog now barely clings to survival,” said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The mountain yellow-legged frog needs the protections of the California Endangered Species Act to have any chance at recovery.”

Although mountain yellow-legged frogs throughout California should be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has only listed the Southern California population as endangered. In response to a 2000 petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Service determined that Sierra Nevada mountain yellow-legged frogs also warrant federal listing as endangered, but that such listing is precluded by actions to list other species. As a fallback the agency placed the Sierra population on the candidate list, which does not confer federal protection. The average time on the waiting list for candidate species is 17 years, and many animals and plants have gone extinct while languishing on this list.

“Continued delay of federal protection for all mountain yellow-legged frog populations is placing this unique California amphibian at risk of extinction,” said Miller. “Without federal action, this frog needs protection under the California Endangered Species Act.”

Only a few decades ago, it was difficult to walk around many of the Sierra’s alpine lakes without tripping over diminutive mountain yellow-legged frogs, known as “mountain gnomes.” These hardy survivors of freezing Sierra winters are vulnerable to a host of modern threats that have driven the species to the brink of extinction. Surveys since 1995 at 225 historic frog localities show extinction of 93 percent of the northern and central Sierra populations and 95 percent of southern populations.

This month the California Department of Fish and Game released a final environmental impact report on the impacts of stocking of hatchery fish on mountain yellow-legged frogs and other imperiled species, which unfortunately failed to adopt sufficient mitigation to protect the species from the impacts of past and ongoing fish stocking.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national nonprofit conservation organization with more than 255,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Background
Mountain yellow-legged frogs are adapted to high-elevation habitats without aquatic predators. Widespread stocking of nonnative trout in high-elevation Sierra lakes by the California Department of Fish and Game has been the primary cause of decline for the species. Introduced trout prey on tadpoles and juvenile frogs and change the food web of the aquatic ecosystems frogs depend upon. Since 2000, the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service have begun removing nonnative trout from some high Sierra lakes on federal lands in an attempt to restore yellow-legged frog populations.

In 2006 the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against Fish and Game for failing to complete an environmental review of the impacts of fish stocking on sensitive aquatic species; in 2007 a court ordered the state agency to conduct a public review of the stocking program’s impacts. In 2008 Fish and Game agreed to interim restrictions prohibiting stocking trout in water bodies with species sensitive to nonnative fish. Although the state has taken steps to reduce trout stocking in areas with yellow-legged frogs, stocked trout continue to harm frog populations and limit recovery. Permanent protection and management decisions to stop stocking and remove trout in key frog habitats are necessary to reduce trout predation of mountain yellow-legged frogs.

Recent research has linked pesticides that drift from agricultural areas in the Central Valley to declines of native amphibians in the Sierra Nevada. Pesticides and other pollutants can directly kill frogs and also act as environmental stressors that render amphibians more susceptible to diseases, including a chytrid fungus that has recently ravaged many yellow-legged frog populations.

Mismanagement of national forest lands has degraded frog habitat where livestock grazing, logging, off-road vehicles, and recreational activity are allowed in frog habitat. Rapid climate change has brought warmer temperatures, decreases in runoff, shifts in winter precipitation in the Sierra from snow to rain, and habitat changes that are rendering frog populations more vulnerable to drought-related extinction events.

The mountain yellow-legged frog was recently re-described by scientists as two distinct species: the southern mountain-yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa), which occurs in the southern Sierra and Transverse Ranges of Southern California; and the Sierra Nevada mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae), in the central and northern Sierra.

Contact: Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185

Rain Frogs and a Slug-Sucking Snake New to Science but Nearly Extinct –
Scientists Discover Snake and 30 New Frog Species Already Threatened by Global Warming

QUITO, ECUADOR.
A team of American and Ecuadorian scientists working for Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International have discovered a treasure trove of previously undiscovered biodiversity in a rare and dwindling ecosystem in coastal Ecuador. The apparently new species include a blunt-snouted, slug-sucking snake and 30 species of rain frog.

The snake belongs to a small group of serpents that specialize in eating gastropods (snails and slugs) and the closest relative of this intriguing snake is found nearly 350 miles away in Peru. Another snake, a snail-sucker, just discovered by the researchers, was previously found only as close as Panama, more than 600 miles away, and may also be a new species. The snail-sucker was first encountered by a 15-year-old volunteer working with the scientists.

The new frogs have an extraordinary life-cycle. Instead of laying eggs in water which hatch into tadpoles, later to metamorphose into the adult form, they lay eggs in trees. The eggs then hatch out into miniature versions of the adults, some barely larger than a pinhead.

Other animals found on the expedition include a gecko so small that it can perch with ample room to spare on the top of a pencil; three species of lungless salamanders; and a bushmaster, which is the largest viper in the world, yet is rarely recorded, having been hunted almost to extinction in many parts of its range.

A majority of the new species were found in Cerro Pata de Pajaro, a small mountain just a few minutes from the Pacific Ocean and sitting right atop the Equator. Pata de Pajaro is surrounded by a type of rainforest and capped in cloud forest. The extent of cloud forest on the site is only a couple miles wide, yet houses at least 14 of the 30 new species known nowhere else on Earth. “There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear as soon as, or even before, they are formally described by science”, said expedition leader Dr. Paul S. Hamilton of RAEI.

Indeed, sites like Pata de Pajaro are under siege from countless ecological disturbances, from widespread deforestation for cattle grazing to timber harvesting and hunting. Climate change models actually predict that many of these mountaintop cloud forests “along with the animals that depend on them – will disappear altogether from global warming if something is not done to save them. The rain frogs just discovered are particularly susceptible to climate change since they rely on moist trees to lay their eggs which may dry up with temperature increases.

Previous work by the scientists in the area yielded an amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians, over 140 species in number. Incidentally, the team has found four new species of stick insect (casually known as stick bugs), just from taking photos of these fascinating creatures in the course of research on reptiles and amphibians. “There are countless gaps in our knowledge about the status and distribution of tropical animals; this study just scratches the surface of what we know about this region alone, much less what is happening to global patterns of extinction”, said Dr. Hamilton, adding “But to stem the pattern of current extinction rates, we all need to do our part, whether that be driving less, eating less meat, or simply educating ourselves and spreading the word.”

“The good news is, the animals are still there and alive, so there is still time to save them from extinction,” said Dr. Kerry Kriger, Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Save the Frogs. “But we need to take action now to make it happen.

Scientists identify Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park as one of the
most biodiverse places on Earth

A team of scientists has documented that Yasuní National Park, located in the core of the Ecuadorian Amazon, is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. The new study details how Yasuní shatters world records for a wide array of plant and animal groups, from amphibians to trees to insects.

“Yasuní is at the center of a small zone where South America’s amphibians, birds, mammals, and vascular plants all reach maximum diversity,” said Dr. Clinton Jenkins of the University of Maryland. “We dubbed this area the ‘quadruple richness center.’”

The study, published in the open-access scientific journal PLoS ONE, is available online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008767

“The 150 amphibian species documented to date throughout Yasuní is a world record for an area of this size,” said Shawn McCracken of Texas State University. “There are more species of frogs and toads within Yasuní than are native to the United States and Canada combined.”

The scientists also confirmed that an average upland hectare (2.47 acres) in Yasuní contains more tree species, 655, than are native to the continental United States and Canada combined. The number of tree species rises to over 1,100 for an area of 25 hectares.

“In just one hectare in Yasuní, there are more tree, shrub, and liana (woody vines) species than anywhere else in the world,” said Gorky Villa, an Ecuadorian botanist working with both the Smithsonian Institution and Finding Species.

Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all is that a single hectare of forest in Yasuní is projected to contain 100,000 insect species. According to eminent entomologist Dr. Terry Erwin, that is the highest estimated diversity per unit area in the world for any plant or animal group.

“One of our most important findings about Yasuní is that small areas of forest harbor extremely high numbers of animals and plants,” said lead author Margot Bass, President of Finding Species, a non-profit with offices in Maryland and Quito, Ecuador. “Yasuní is probably unmatched by any other park in the world for total numbers of species.”

The extraordinary diversity of Yasuní is best exemplified at the 6.5 km2 (1600 acre) Tiputini Biodiversity Station, located on the northern edge of the park.

“The Tiputini Biodiversity Station is home to 247 amphibian and reptile species, 550 bird species, and around 200 mammal species, including 10 primates and an array of large predators,” said Dr. Kelly Swing of the University of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador.

“In addition, the station is the richest site in the world for bats,” added researcher Dr. Thomas Kunz of Boston University. “We estimate that over 100 different bat species inhabit this small area.”

Yasuní also contains 28 endangered vertebrates on the IUCN Red List, including threatened large primates (White-bellied Spider Monkey and Poeppig’s Woolly Monkey) and aquatic mammals (Giant Otter and Amazonian Manatee), and a number of regional endemic species found nowhere else on Earth.

“What makes Yasuní especially important is its potential to sustain this extraordinary biodiversity in the long term,” said Dr. Matt Finer of Save America’s Forests. “For example, the Yasuní region is predicted to maintain wet, rainforest conditions as climate change-induced drought intensifies in the eastern Amazon.”

The authors warn, however, that current and potential oil development projects represent the greatest threat to Yasuní.

The paper concludes with a number of science-based policy recommendations. One key recommendation is as a moratorium on new oil exploration or development projects within the park, particularly in the remote and relatively intact—but oil rich—northeast corner that contains oil blocks 31 and ITT.

The Ecuadorian government is currently promoting a revolutionary plan, known as the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, which would leave the park’s largest oil reserves in the ITT block permanently under the ground.

“This plan, however, urgently needs international funders to step up and make it a success, or else more drilling in Yasuní may become a tragic reality,” concluded Finer.

CONTACT:
Shawn McCracken, Texas State University – Dept. of Biology: smccracken@txstate.edu
Matt Finer, Save America’s Forests: 202•544•9219, matt@saveamericasforests.org
Margot Bass, Finding Species: mbass@findingspecies.org