Pity the Oregon spotted frog. Non-native fishes and big bullfrogs are eating them, cattle stomp on their meadows and invasive grasses and other plants cover their former range. Now they’re becoming the center of controversy as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moves to list them under the Endangered Species Act.
Proposed protection of 54,000 acres of their historic marsh habitat, more than half in Klamath County, would curtail livestock and development activities in the Klamath Basin, already stressed by this summer’s drought. The Wildlife Service says the frog has been lost from at least 78 percent of its former range in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. It has disappeared from five of 10 counties where it traditionally lived in Oregon.
Medium sized and covered with black spots, the frog measures 1.74 to 4 inches long.
The Wildlife Service first suggested listing the frog as endangered 21 years ago, but didn’t move ahead until a year ago.
Some say the action will be bad for the economy, citing the example of how spotted owl protections reduced logging. Conservationists see broader environmental values in protecting current wetlands and restoring old ones.
Sources: "Species Fact Sheet: Oregon spotted frog." Oregon Fish & Wildlife. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014. Web. 19 Aug. 2014
"Klamath Basin Spotted Frog Impacts." Writ. Devin Schwartz. PRX (Public Radio Exchange. Jefferson Public Radio. 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 20 13.
