CA: Judge lifts controls on red-legged frog lands

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 species
By Douglas Fischer
STAFF 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 developers to rework the plan -- the largest critical habitat designation in California's history -- with a revised economic analysis.

But to the surprise of environmentalists, the agency agreed to drop the protections entirely while the new blueprint was under way. On Wednesday Leon released his final stay.

"Yes, critical habitat will have to be designated," Galvin said. "The question is how many acres of wetlands habitat will be destroyed (in the meantime). Obviously, (the frog) can't afford to lose additional habitat. But that's what we're faced with here."

The once widespread amphibian inspired Mark Twain's 1865 short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," in which he wrote of a frog named Dan'l Webster that could "get over more ground in one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see."

Since then that ground has shrunk some 70 percent, and the Center for Biological Diversity claims only four places are known to have populations greater than 350.

In March 2001 the Fish and Wildlife Service slapped restrictions on 4.3 million acres considered likely habitat for the frog. Only an estimated 200,000 acres actually sheltered frogs.

The habitat designation was several years in the making and covered 28 of the state's 58 counties, including almost all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and much of Alameda, Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties.

Developers called that excessive and sued, saying the service never adequately considered the economic harm of such a plan.

After developers prevailed on a similar case in New Mexico, the agency settled several lawsuits across the West, including the red-legged frog challenge.

Officers with the Homebuilders Association of Northern California, lead plaintiffs on the case, were not available for comment Friday evening.

"It sounds like that was basically in line with his original decision," said service spokesman Jim Nickles. "We'll comply."

"Things aren't looking too good for the frog," said Peter Galvin, conservation biologist for Center for Biological Diversity.

Things aren't looking good for them because they're too specialized and unable to adapt. The tree frogs around my house aren't going extinct because they have adapted, and in fact they've found human beings very useful. We put out lots of lights, you see, that attract lots of bugs.

The red-leg frog hasn't adapted. Goodbye, red-leg frog. We'll never see you again, but considering that I've never seen you before anyway, it hardly matters to me.

I favor sensible conservation. We need conservation and pollution laws. The problem is that the fanatics have taken over the movement and don't have a lick of economic sense.

It's important for conservatives to work for sensible environmental laws, because it will make for a better country. Conservation is too important to leave it in the hands of irrational fruitcakes.

If I understand this article correctly, the frogs live on 200,000 acres but the envirowhackos tried to make that an excuse to put 4.1 million acres out of bounds. That's the kind of overkill that gives environmentalists a bad name. If they want a bigger nature preserve, then they should be honest about it, make the argument, or buy the land and set it aside.

What a Queer bird the red-legged frog are

When he set, he stand-almost

When he walk, he run-almost

When he hop, he fly-almost

He ain't got no head hardly

He ain't got no tail hardly either

When he set, he sit on what he ain't got-almost

Author: About To Croak

Mark Twain's Jumping Frog Nearly Extinct

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

“Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do ‘most anything—and I believe him. Why, I’ve seen him set Dan’l Webster down here on this floor—Dan’l Webster was the name of the frog—and sing out, ‘Flies, Dan’l, flies!’ and quicker’n you could wink he’d spring straight up and snake a fly off’n the counter there, and flop down on the floor ag’in as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn’t no idea he’d been doin’ any more’n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor’ard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair and square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see.”

-Mark Twain

The California red-legged frog is the largest frog west of the Continental Divide. Once so common it was a staple cuisine in San Francisco and Central valley, its numbers have plummeted to near extinction in recent decades. While Mark Twain's contemporaries instantly recognized the feisty hero of his tale The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County as a California red-legged frog, few people today have been lucky enough to witness its famous leap.

It was once so abundant as to be a major human food source in the Bay area and the Central Valley. About 80,000 frogs were consumed annually in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As the population declined, bull frogs were exported from the East Coast to keep the "froggery" going. Bull frogs, however, are voracious predators. They helped drive the red-legged frog (and many other species) lower yet. Habitat loss to logging, wetland draining, water diversions, dams, cattle grazing, pesticides, urban sprawl, and agricultural expansion also decimated the species. California has lost 90% of it historic riparian areas and wetlands.

The California redlegged frog was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1996. Historically common from Point Reyes National Seashore, inland to Redding and southward to northwestern Baja California, Mexico, it has been extirpated from 70% of its range. Its population has declined by at least 90%. It currently occupies coastal drainages in central California and scattered streams in the Sierra Nevada. A single population remains in Southern California. Rangewide, only four populations contain more than 350 adults.

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