Officials Trim 80 Percent of Land to Be Set Aside for Frog From Proposal

By Warren Lutz, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Nov. 4–Federal wildlife officials have cut by more than 80 percent the amount of California land identified as critical habitat for the red-legged frog, a move that pleases developers.

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also identified new habitats for the creatures in the real-life setting for Mark Twain’s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

The proposal comes three years after the Home Builders Association of Northern California and two other groups sued the wildlife service to reconsider the amount of space it originally proposed — 4.1 million acres, or slightly larger than the state of Connecticut. In 2002, a federal judge found problems in the agency’s economic analysis of the proposal and ordered officials to redo the plan.

The frog was listed as a threatened species in 1996 under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The current proposal includes about 738,000 acres, about 18 percent of the original plan. A public comment period on the proposal lasts until Feb. 1.

Joseph Perkins, president and CEO of the home-builders association, called the proposal good news. Perkins said his group lobbied the agency to reduce the size of frog habitats, fearing they would stymie future housing projects. It was joined in their lawsuit by the California Building Industry Association, the California Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business groups.

“If they are reducing the acreage by 80 percent, then it’s based on sound science,” Perkins said.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials attributed the smaller land area to better information about the threatened species. The original 4.1 million acres proposed in 2001 was done primarily by identifying watersheds, said Jim Nickles, a wildlife service spokesman.

“That was why the acreage was so huge,” Nickles said. “This proposal looks more at where we know the actual habitat is. “¦ We basically took out those areas where there are no frogs.”

Officials added at least one habitat: Red-legged frogs were presumed gone in Calaveras County for decades until 2003, when two children found them on their family ranch in Angels Camp.

Robert Stack, director of the Jumping Frog Research Institute advocacy group, was pleased with the addition but called the 80 percent cut in total frog habitats politically motivated.

“There is a hostility to designated critical habitats within the current administration in Washington,” he said. “The interesting thing about a critical habitat is that it’s not always where critters are found.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are also reaching out to ranchers by proposing a special rule that makes it easier for ranchers to keep artificial stock ponds, which are frog breeding areas.

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