Frog comes before fuel thinning at Echo Lakes

The U.S. Forest Service won’t be thinning fuels near Echo Lakes anytime soon.

This is because a judge this week agreed more time is needed to determine the impacts to the yellow-legged frog.

The USFS has agreed not to thin trees in this area on Echo Summit until at least after Oct. 15. Consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue until then to determine the effects on the threatened frog.

Dennis Murphy, a UNR research professor who helped draft the Lake Tahoe Watershed Assessment for the federal government, filed a lawsuit against the USFS last fall claiming the Forest Service did not adequately consider the environmental impacts of the project.

No trees have been cut this year.

The court order is that no trees will be cut prior to Labor Day to protect the endangered frog.

Here is a copy of the latest court document.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report