VICTORY!

The California Fish & Game Commission voted unanimously today to grant endangered status to the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs (Rana sierrae and R. muscosa), which have disappeared from over 90% of their historic range. Thanks to the 1,573 SAVE THE FROGS! supporters who sent in letters on behalf of the frogs. While endangered species status does not guarantee success in saving the species, it is a clear step in the right direction.

At one time a common sight at lakes, ponds and streams throughout the Sierra Nevadas, California’s Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog are now completely gone from over 90% of the sites they once inhabited.

Press Release From The San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research
April 15, 2010

The endangered mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) will take a major step in its recovery this week when, for the first time, scientists reintroduce its eggs to its former habitat. This reintroduction will occur at University of California Riverside’s James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve, part of the University of California Natural Reserve System, and will be done in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. Once common throughout much of southern California, the mountain yellow-legged frog has been decreasing in numbers since the 1970s due to what scientists call the “perfect storm” that is affecting frog populations around the globe — decreasing habitat, increasing pollution and invasive species, the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus and the effects of climate change. Today, only a small wild population of less than 200 individuals can be found in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and San Jacinto Mountains.

In 2006, scientists collected mountain yellow-legged frog tadpoles from the remaining wild populations in the San Jacinto Mountains and took them to the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research where, for the first time, specialists were able to establish a captive breeding program for the species. This year’s reproductive season at the Zoo has been so successful that scientists have decided to attempt a reintroduction into the wild.

There are 61 mountain yellow-legged frogs at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. Scientists attempted to spur breeding in January by putting half of that population into a cooler that mimicked high mountain winter conditions. The chill caused the frogs to hibernate. About two weeks ago the frogs were taken out of the coolers and began displaying breeding behaviors within a few days. “Three months ago the San Diego Zoo started an experimental procedure of chilling these frogs to see how it would affect breeding. It has been wildly successful and as a result today we can reintroduce about 500 eggs into the San Jacinto Mountains” said Jeff Lemm Research Coordinator for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research “This is a momentous day – the first reintroduction of these endangered frog eggs ever back into their natural habitat and the San Diego Zoo is thrilled to be a part of it”. They selected the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve for this reintroduction because it is a protected area with ideal habitats in the species’ former range.

The mountain yellow-legged frog is one of three Southern California frog or toad species on the Federal Endangered Species List. Biologists from the USGS will be responsible for the initial phase of the reintroduction, and will be releasing egg masses into deep permanent pools, followed by the additional release of tadpoles later in the year. They will then closely monitor the health and success of the reintroduction. It will take two years for the tadpoles to morph into adults and as they are not a migratory species the frogs will stay in the creek within the bounds of the protected reserve where they can be easily monitored. “This is an amazing first step in the recovery program for this wonderful frog, and we are looking forward to having the frogs here for a long time to come” said Becca Fenwick, Director of the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve.

For more information please contact Adam Backlin, Ecologist for the USGS; (714) 508 4702, abacklin@usgs.gov, or Dani Dodge Medlin, San Diego Zoo’s Public Relations Representative; (619) 685 3291. Photo and video of the release will be made available Friday by the San Diego Zoo.
The James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve is one of thirty-six University of California run reserves throughout the state protecting over 135,000 acres. The Natural Reserve System was established in 1965 to protect and make available natural lands for research, university level instruction and public outreach. The system of reserves broadly represents California’s rich ecological diversity, provides protected locations for long-term study and opportunities for outdoor education. The NRS is the largest university operated system of natural reserves in the world. For more information on the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve, or the NRS contact Becca Fenwick or visit www.jamesreserve.edu

USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to
conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and
trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific
excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

The San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research is dedicated to generating, sharing and applying scientific knowledge vital to the conservation of animals, plants and habitats worldwide. The work of the Institute includes onsite research efforts at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, laboratory work the at Arnold and Beckman Center for Conservation Research, and international field programs involving more than 180 researchers working in 35 countries. In addition to the Beckman Center for Conservation Research, the Institute also operates the Anne and Kenneth Griffin Reptile Conservation Center, the Botanical Conservation Center, the Keauhou and Maui Hawaiian Bird Conservation Centers and the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. The Zoo also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which includes a 900-acre native species reserve, and the San Diego Zoo. The important conservation and science work of the entities is supported in part by The Foundation of the Zoological Society of San Diego.

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

The Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog was once the most abundant frog in California, but has disappeared from over 90% of the lakes it once inhabited, in large part due to the introduction of non-native trout, which are voracious predators of tadpoles.

The National Park Service is currently deciding whether to remove the non-native trout from Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park.

Please take two minutes to send the National Park Service this pre-written letter urging them to remove introduced fishes from the Park. Thanks!