Protected status given to Sierra amphibians
By Dana M. Nichols, Stockton Record
SAN ANDREAS — The yellow-legged frog, a native of the High Sierra, will soon be listed as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday.
The service also said that it will soon list the Yosemite toad as threatened with extinction.
The listings will mean new legal protections for two species of yellow-legged frog and for the toad, which live at high altitudes primarily on federal forest or national park lands.
The listings was published Tuesday in the Federal Register on Tuesday and will become final on June 30. The action caps almost a decade and a half of legal and political conflict over the amphibians.
So glad there might finally be protection for these critters. Nature bats last!
I hope they do the right thing and close Yosemite to protect the Yosemite toad.
I am not sure yet, but I have a feeling that the feds might declare the new public lands frog/toad habitat, whether the species are there or not, from Bishop to Truckee, off-limits to people for months a year and then seasonally restricted to very little use or access and requiring new permits to enter “public” lands, along with new massive poisoning efforts to kill trout that might or might not have anything to do with it. Protecting and then poisoning is classic with no known proven reason for the declines of these species that I have ever read or seen which is likely viral or related to pesticides. This is like a new land grab or giant new “wilderness area.” Wherever new federal regs and “designations” appear on public lands, it is always trouble for the human users of public lands which become less and less available to the public.
Justice – but the frogs were here first
WHAT A SHAME!!!!!
We the humans put trout in the high country for our enjoyment and consumption, We the humans put houses on this land to get away from the big city and for our enjoyment of the mountains, We the humans built water supplies for our convenience and for our use.
How long will it be before a government agency decides we need to remove our homes from these lands, our water supplies and our recreational opportunities from these lands?
The frogs are going away for numerous reasons including Fungus, UV, Pesticides and yes the Trout that we put there. Problem is, seemingly, they can’t or won’t do anything about the Uv, Pesticides or the Fungus. The frog will more than likely go away and what will We the humans be left with? No frog and no Trout for our recreational enjoyment. Are our houses next? You better believe it has been talked about in some form around some table and how long will it be before they figure it out?
Im going to trust the noncorporate scientists that study these issues and if they find that these species need protection than I believe them. So what if a human is inconvenienced. I vote for the frog.
*grunt* non-corporate good. *grunt* government supported state university grant supported good. *grunt* privately funded bad.
Why is it not possible that scientists who get their money from the government might be just as corruptible as privately paid scientists? You think their hearts are more pure because they’ve got tenure?? You think they don’t know it it’s in their best interest to tell the folks who pay them what they want to hear just as much as any corporate scientist does?