Free Republic

Judge lifts controls on red-legged frog lands Settlement opens 4.1 million acres in California to development while feds draft new plan to protect speciesBy Douglas FischerSTAFF WRITER A federal judge has lifted restrictions on 4.1 million acres deemed critical for California red-legged frogs, leaving the land open to development as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service redrafts a plan to protect the threatened amphibians. "Things aren't looking too good for the frog," said Peter Galvin, conservation biologist for Center for Biological Diversity. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., approved in July a settlement between the agency and...

Red-Legged Frog Habitat Rule Overturned OAKLAND, California, July 10, 2002 (ENS) - A federal judge has approved an agreement that could nullify most of the 4.1 million acres designated last year in California as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog. Judge Richard Leon - a recent Bush administration appointee - of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, approved the agreement between the Home Builders Association of Northern California and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) last week. The developers had argued that the USFWS had not considered the economic impacts of protecting habitat for the...

<p>Powerhouse Contra Costa developer Albert Seeno Jr. will pay $1 million and turn hundreds of acres of land near Mount Diablo into a refuge for the California red-legged frog, after his company pleaded guilty Friday to wiping out the threatened amphibian's habitat to build $500,000 homes.</p>

<p>The federal government has rescinded its designation of nearly 4 million acres for the protection of the California red-legged frog after a legal challenge by home builders who said it would impede development in a vast region of Northern California.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --  In an effort to save the threatened red-legged frog, a group of environmentalists has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</p> <p>The Center for Biological Diversity accuses the EPA of ignoring the Endangered Species Act by allowing certain pesticides to remain on the market even though they are known to kill or deform the frog, according to the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.</p>