Posted on 09/29/2005 7:06:31 PM PDT by GreenFreeper
Expecting to be fed, boreal toads at an Alamosa hatchery turn toward the photographer. Scientists say they now won t have to get special permits to study the creatures, speeding research on a fungus decimating the population. (Special to The Denver Post / Mark H. Hunter)
Colorado's boreal toad was removed as a candidate for the federal endangered-species list Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That could be good news for ski-slope developers - and maybe even for the toad itself.
An exotic fungus that is hammering the warty, high-elevation amphibian made it a candidate for endangered-species protection in 1995.
One of the mountain toad's habitats was right on the Breckenridge hillside the Vail Resorts Development Co. wanted for its Peak 7 expansion.
To win approval for the project, the developer agreed to deed 56 acres of sensitive wetlands to the town, build new toad habitat when it builds a new base area and fund a toad study.
"Would we have agreed to build
new toad habitat or fund the study if it was not a candidate for listing?" said Alex Iskenderian, Vail's vice president of development. "No. Significant moneys were involved."
Several state road projects have added costly toad underpasses.
Still, getting off the list may benefit the toad by speeding the pace of research, biologists say.
"When something is listed, we have to get special permits to do experiments with them," said Cindy Carey, a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado.
"This will help us make rapid progress on understanding the toad's genetics and the fungus," Carey said.
Future genetic studies could prove that the Colorado toads are a separate species, or help researchers breed resistance to the deadly chytrid fungus.
Only two large, uninfected boreal toad populations remain in Colorado - one in Chaffee County and the other near Gunnison.
Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they had no recourse but to delist the toad because they can't conclusively say the Colorado population is unique among boreal toads.
"Genetic studies could not draw a line around the Rocky Mountain province and say these toads are a distinct population segment," said Larry Thompson, an agency biologist.
The agency cited the genetic studies of Anna Goebel in raising uncertainty about the Colorado toads. But Goebel, a former CU researcher and now a professor
at Florida Gulf Coast University, challenged that assessment. "Based on multiple data sets including genetics, I would say they are a different species," Goebel said. "They're on their own distinct evolutionary track."
Conservation groups immediately criticized the federal move and said they would sue to restore protections.
"All the new scientific information shows the toad is more different, more rare, more threatened than they thought," said Erin Robertson, a biologist with the Center for Native Ecosystems. "Yet they're not giving the toad more protection, they're giving it less."
The move comes as there is a push in Congress to overhaul the Endangered Species Act.
Congressional critics say the law is broken because few species have recovered during the law's 32-year history.
Among the proposed changes is a requirement that the government pay landowners if they have to limit or forgo development to protect species.
Despite Wednesday's decision, numerous toad conservation programs will continue.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is releasing toads raised in an Alamosa hatchery in an attempt to re-establish populations.
"It's a special toad," said CU researcher Lauren Livo. "Its adaptations to high-elevation and high-latitude environments is quite interesting. It's a cool toad, literally."
Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they had no recourse but to delist the toad because they can't conclusively say the Colorado population is unique among boreal toads.
Admitting a mistake?
Do boreal toads make good deep-fried frog legs?
A conversation I remember once hearing:
"Sometimes driving at night around here can be hard, because you have to spend so much time dodging frogs."
"Uhh...hey, buddy, I don't dodge frogs."
Me neither. When I'm mowing the lawn, they need to get out of the way, or prepare to be scavenger food.
I've never see a toad cooking up frog legs...so probably not!
"Do boreal toads make good deep-fried frog legs?"
Hmmmm .... Got it!
Do deep-fried boreal toad legs taste good?
;>)
What looks at first observation to be happening here is that the FWS is intervening in a natural die-off due to a natural pathogen.
If such is the case, I'm not so sure it is within our obligations to intervene, nor am I inclined to believe that it is necessarily beneficial to do so.
Perhaps the bottom line is these toads if they live in areas that are not accessable by man for building, after all not every inch of mountian meadows are going to be covered with concrete, shall survive to some degree. One thing for sure, expect the price of a lift ticket to go up if the company is going to have to maintain special areas to house these critters. Pretty soon will be seeing public housing developments for toads being erected on the side of mountains.
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