Latest News
The California Department of Fish and Game released its "final" fish stocking EIR-EIS on January 11, 2010. The entire document is available on their web site.
On January 25, 2010, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to list all populations of the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae) as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.
I'll be discussing both of these issues in the Frog Blog during the next few weeks.
Purpose of this Site
This
site provides up-to-date information on the natural history and conservation
of the mountain yellow-legged frog, a group of two closely-related
species (Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae) that inhabit California's
highest mountains.
As an aquatic ecologist fascinated by the fauna of mountain habitats, I've spent the last 15 years studying mountain yellow-legged frogs in the Sierra Nevada. Unfortunately, this research and that of my colleagues indicates that this once-abundant amphibian is disappearing. Many of the lakes and ponds in which I observed mountain yellow-legged frogs just a few years ago no longer contain them, leaving behind an eerie silence.
Against this background of population disappearances, it is heartening to see the growing interest in conserving these frogs. To further that interest, this site distills the burgeoning scientific and management literature on mountain yellow-legged frogs down into the key facts related to natural history, current status, threats, and ongoing conservation efforts.
The information on this site is based on the latest available scientific studies, but also includes the scientific opinions of its author, Dr. Roland Knapp.
