Chiricahua leopard frog inches towards recovery.(YEAR OF THE FROG)

Recovery--it is the most important part of endangered species conservation. For most species, considerable funding and staff resources are needed to overcome years of population declines and habitat degradation. Despite the limited resources available, and with a lot of help from our friends and partners, such as state wildlife agencies, federal land managers, ranchers and other private landowners, Turner Enterprises, Phelps Dodge Corporation, the Phoenix Zoo, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Fort Worth Zoo, Nature Conservancy, Sky Island Alliance, and universities, we have put together a recovery program for the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis). To augment the scarce funds available for recovery activities, we have engaged the Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and applied for grants from foundations. We and our very dedicated host of partners are slowly making progress towards the recovery of this species.

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The Chiricahua leopard frog is a large, often green, spotted frog that historically was common in the mountains and high valleys of central and southeastern Arizona, west-central and southwestern New Mexico, and southward in the Sierra Madre Occidental and associated sky islands of northeastern Sonora and western Chihuahua, Mexico. We know of 469 historical localities. Declines were first noted in the early to mid-1970s, and today the species is only known to exist at about 41 localities in Arizona and 30 to 35 localities in New Mexico. Its status in Mexico is poorly known, but Chiricahua leopard frogs have declined to some extent there as well. The Mexican government lists it as amenazada (threatened).

The causes of the decline are not always clear, and several interacting factors are often at play, but experts on the Chiricahua leopard frog generally agree that predation by introduced species (especially American bullfrogs, sport fishes, and crayfish) and an apparently introduced fungal skin disease (chytridiomycosis) that is killing frogs and toads around the globe are the leading causes.

Other problems, such as loss and degradation of wetlands, recent catastrophic wildfires, drought, and contaminants, have contributed to the decline.

The Chiricahua Leopard Frog Recovery Plan was completed in early 2007. It was developed in an open process with a technical team that provided top-notch scientific expertise, while three stakeholder groups kept the process grounded in the social, economic, and nuts-and-bolts realities of achieving recovery on the ground. Key elements include protecting the remaining populations and habitats, establishing new populations, monitoring progress, research, public outreach, and adaptive management.

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