The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a final recovery plan for the Oregon spotted frog, a threatened species living in the Pacific Northwest. The plan provides a road map to help recover the frog so it can thrive and ultimately be delisted from the Endangered Species Act.
Recovery plans are not regulatory documents, and instead encourage cooperation among diverse stakeholders to carry out voluntary actions that conserve listed species and their ecosystems.
Oregon spotted frogs are impacted by several threats including the historic loss of wetland habitats and ongoing hydrological and vegetation changes to habitat, predation by invasive bullfrogs and nonnative fishes, small and isolated populations due to habitat fragmentation, and climate change.
Historically, Oregon spotted frogs were found across large expanses of wetland and aquatic habitat in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. The frog has lost more than 76% of its former range and has been extirpated from California. Currently, this species inhabits small portions of 16 hydrological sub-basins ranging from southwestern British Columbia south through the Puget Trough in Washington, and in the Cascade Range from south-central Washington to the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon.
The goal of the recovery plan is to have resilient Oregon spotted frog populations in the 16 hydrological sub-basins across the species’ current range. The recovery plan is designed to improve genetic diversity and increase frog numbers and distribution so that populations are resilient to adverse impacts.
“Although the plan focuses on the frog, implementing voluntary recovery actions will also benefit people and other listed and non-listed species that depend on wetland and aquatic ecosystems,” said Service Oregon Office state supervisor Kessina Lee.
Restoration of wetlands and other aquatic habitats allows more water to be held in the system, recharge groundwater, reduce flood risk, provide habitat to multiple aquatic species, and even serve as fire breaks.
The Oregon spotted frog has the most aquatic-dependent life history of any frog species in the Pacific Northwest. Appropriate timing and availability of water for this frog is critical since all life stages of the species are aquatic. Focused collaboration among private landowners, local municipalities, conservation organizations, businesses, Tribes, as well as other Federal and state agencies will be necessary to recover and ultimately delist this species.
The draft recovery plan was shared in March 2023 for public comment. The Service has reviewed and incorporated comments and new information into the final recovery plan, which is available at: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/6633
Also see:
–CBB, Jan. 13, 2023, Conservationists To Sue Agencies Over Deschutes Habitat Conservation Plan, Say Won’t Protect ESA-Listed Oregon Spotted Frog