NEWSFLASH

SAVING THE SIERRA NEVADA mountain yellow-legged frog

The mountain yellow-legged frog was once the most abundant amphibian in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Only a few decades ago, it was difficult to walk around many of the Sierra’s alpine lakes without tripping over these diminutive “mountain gnomes.” Today, the hardy survivors of freezing Sierra winters are vulnerable to a host of modern threats, which have driven the frogs extinct in more than 93 percent of their old Sierra home.

The mountain yellow-legged frog adapted to high-elevation habitats without aquatic predators. Thus, it’s not surprising that the primary reason for the frog’s decline is the introduction of nonnative trout to high Sierra lakes by the California Department of Fish and Game. These stocked fish prey upon tadpoles and juvenile frogs, and scientists predict that the yellow-legged frog could be extinct in the Sierra within decades. Since the Center filed a petition to add the species to the endangered species list in 2000, the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service have begun removing nonnative trout from some high Sierra lakes in an attempt to restore yellow-legged frog populations. But nonnative trout introductions and frog declines continue, and the Center is challenging the state’s harmful fish-stocking practices.