Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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maverick
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Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

Post by maverick »

SEKI NP:

Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Release Critically Endangered Frogs to Bolster Wild Populations

Tadpoles were emergency-airlifted from remote park locations and transported to Oakland Zoo and San Francisco Zoo to be cleared of disease, raised into frogs, immunized, and released back into their natal lakes in hopes of restoring their dwindling populations in the wild.

Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered for a third year in efforts to recover endangered mountain yellow-legged frog populations in the wild.

Mountain yellow-legged frogs are threatened by non-native predators and disease (chytridiomycosis), which is caused by amphibian chytrid fungus and is responsible for the decline or extinction of more than 200 amphibian species worldwide. The mountain yellow-legged frog has been listed as Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2014.

The frogs that were released were raised from tadpoles in quarantine at both the Oakland Zoo and San Francisco Zoo, as part of a “head-start” program to increase their chance of survival in the wild. The program involves collecting diseased tadpoles from wild populations, clearing them of disease upon arrival at zoos, growing them into healthy juvenile frogs, and inoculating the frogs to boost their immune response to the fungus before reintroducing them to their population sites.

Amphibian chytrid fungus has been present in Asia, South America, and Africa for approximately a century, but has spread to almost every continent in recent decades, likely due to the worldwide exportation of amphibians.
Of the 215 healthy young frogs that were transported by helicopter and released into lakes in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks over the past two weeks, Oakland Zoo raised 99 of them and San Francisco Zoo raised 116 of them.

“Our collaboration with biologists and several government agencies has given us the opportunity to inoculate these frogs against the deadly disease that has already wiped out 90% of this species in the wild,” said Margaret Rousser, Zoological Manager at Oakland Zoo. “We are honored to be able to make a real difference in the conservation of this species.”

The release indicates the success of the program, now in its third year and ongoing. The program looks to continue and succeed as other groups of tadpoles are salvaged and brought to zoos for more head-starting.

“This partnership has been critical to the recovery of the mountain yellow-legged frog,” said Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office Field Supervisor Jennifer Norris, Ph.D. “We’ve been able to maximize the expertise of each partner to successfully recover and relocate over 400 frogs over the past couple years alone.”

“These frog reintroductions are the result of close collaboration and effort by many partners,” said Danny Boiano, Aquatic Ecologist at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. “However, the expertise provided by the zoos has been instrumental to the success of being able to return so many frogs to the wild.”

“Immunizing frogs is a new tool in our toolbox to save at risk populations,” said Jessie Bushell, Director of Conservation at the San Francisco Zoo. “Just like vaccinating people, we are jump starting their disease fighting immune systems. When released, these frogs will be better able to fight future chytrid infections. It might seem like a lot to go through, but letting populations completely die out is not a good option.”

The conservation collaboration between the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and zoos is trying to helping to save a native California species and give it the opportunity to thrive and repopulate in the wild. Seeing flourishing frogs in healthy habitats is the ultimate goal of the rescue for recovery, so future generations are able to experience and learn about these animals first-hand.
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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maverick wrote:SEKI NP:
Mountain yellow-legged frogs are threatened by non-native predators and disease (chytridiomycosis), which is caused by amphibian chytrid fungus and is responsible for the decline or extinction of more than 200 amphibian species worldwide.

“Our collaboration with biologists and several government agencies has given us the opportunity to inoculate these frogs against the deadly disease that has already wiped out 90% of this species in the wild,” said Margaret Rousser, Zoological Manager at Oakland Zoo.
The frogs are threatened by "non-native predators"? Hmmm.

But..."the deadly disease that has already wiped out 90% of this species".

So which one is wiping out the frogs? It looks like one thing "threatens" the frogs and the other "wipes them out".

JMHO,

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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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Frog legs taste good Russ, have not made them in a while, but taste good! :nod:
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

Post by rlown »

maverick wrote:Frog legs taste good Russ, have not made them in a while, but taste good! :nod:
I know they taste good. Just trying to figure out my new diet on fishless lakes. :)
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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Gentlemen,
On a recent visit, I was impressed (sad?) to see that there were gill nets in several lakes in Amphitheater basin, and the namesake lake looked devoid of trout, which certainly was not the case on my first visit (back in the 1980s). That said, we also heard "ribits" and saw some big juicy tadpoles, so the frog folk should be happy. And, I'm a big fan of frog legs, too, so it looks like a new culinary staple may be on the horizon (when the population rebounds?)? Or, are endangered species protected?
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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cgundersen wrote:Gentlemen,
On a recent visit, I was impressed (sad?) to see that there were gill nets in several lakes in Amphitheater basin, and the namesake lake looked devoid of trout, which certainly was not the case on my first visit (back in the 1980s). That said, we also heard "ribits" and saw some big juicy tadpoles, so the frog folk should be happy. And, I'm a big fan of frog legs, too, so it looks like a new culinary staple may be on the horizon (when the population rebounds?)? Or, are endangered species protected?
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The frogs are protected. But if they take away my fish, I'll eat what I find.
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

Post by Wandering Daisy »

When I day-hiked the lakes above Amphitheter Lake in 2013, I still caught fish in Amphitheater, but the gill nets were all in place in the upper lakes.

I am not sure what the real achievment is saving one species with such intensive intervention. Why the frog and not the other 90% of amphibians? If left alone perhaps some surviving frogs would develop a natural resistance to the diseases and come out a stronger species, if they survive. As for eating frogs, no thanks. I will just go vegetarian while at those lakes. I just hope this gill netting project does not get out of hand and they get rid of all fish in most of the remote lakes. Not sure the few of us who fish these lakes have much politcial power. Nobody cares about our small outcry. And it is political.
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

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Remember biology courses in high school? when we had to dissect frogs? And the gill netting project was out of hand since '96
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Re: Frog Release Into SEKI 8/30

Post by giantbrookie »

rlown wrote:
cgundersen wrote:Gentlemen,
On a recent visit, I was impressed (sad?) to see that there were gill nets in several lakes in Amphitheater basin, and the namesake lake looked devoid of trout, which certainly was not the case on my first visit (back in the 1980s). That said, we also heard "ribits" and saw some big juicy tadpoles, so the frog folk should be happy. And, I'm a big fan of frog legs, too, so it looks like a new culinary staple may be on the horizon (when the population rebounds?)? Or, are endangered species protected?
Cameron
The frogs are protected. But if they take away my fish, I'll eat what I find.
All kidding aside, these are relatively small frogs with rather scrawny hindlegs, so unfortunately we won't be getting a viable protein replacement for our trout. As for the merits of trout versus YLF, this has been discussed on multiple threads. The Seki EIR foretold the Amphitheater operation and I was pretty sad when I read that the basin was in the cross hairs from the draft stage of the EIR. I too have fond memories of Amphitheater. I was there in 1993 and whereas the fish weren't huge (best went 13", although I saw a fish that looked in the 15" range in the outlet stream) having decent fish in what to me is one of the most gorgeous lakes of the High Sierra was a terrific combo. I never got up to fish the upper lakes but I had heard great things about them from others (at an amazing random meet up at a trailless lunker lake in Seki in 1996) and had resolved to go check them out the next time I headed for the Amphitheater-Dumbbells area. When I found out about the plans to remove the fish from the basin, my route plans for my eventual (I hope) return to this area changed.

Anyhow I am hoping the frog reintroduction is a success and the frogs make a comeback because the more precarious the YLF survival is, the more lakes they will eliminate fish in.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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