Comments sought on foothill yellow-legged frog

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife wants the public’s input on a proposal to list the foothill yellow-legged frog as a threatened species.

The frog inhabits lower elevation creeks, streams and rivers throughout Sierra and other parts of the state. They can be found in a variety of habitat types such as chaparral, oak woodland, mixed coniferous forest, riparian sycamore and cottonwood forest, as well as wet meadows.

In December 2016, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to formally list the frog as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. The listing petition described a variety of threats to the survival of frogs in California. These include direct and indirect impacts associated with dams, water diversions and development, invasive species, disease, climate change and other activities such as marijuana cultivation, timber harvest, mining, recreation, road building and urbanization.

The Commission followed CDFW’s recommendation and voted June 21 to advance the species to candidacy. The commission published findings of this decision on July 7, triggering a 12-month period during which CDFW will conduct a status review to inform the commission’s decision on whether to list the species.

Comments may be submitted by email to wildlifemgt@wildlife.ca.gov.