Around 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles have been released back into the Santa Monica Mountains — after they were rescued from extreme weather by the National Park Service and taken to Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific to be hatched earlier this year.
The tadpoles were rescued in March, according to a Tuesday, July 15, news release, when extreme late-winter storms rolled into the Santa Monica Mountains and put the then-frog egg masses, which were laid in streams and ponds, at risk of disruption.
The eggs were rescued by NPS and brough to the aquarium, where staffers nurtured the soon-to-be frogs until they were ready to hatch.
“We are so proud to be able to support the National Park Service in their work to help local populations of California red-legged frogs,” the aquarium’s manager of conservation initiatives, Erin Lundy, said in a news release. “Our partners dedicate so much time and expertise to supporting these local species, and it’s incredibly meaningful to be able to play a role in the important work that they do.”
The California red-legged frog was listed on the federal Endangered Species Act in 1996, and they’re also on the state’s Species of Special Concern list, according to the announcement.
The National Parks Service releases about 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles into the Santa Monica Mountains. (Photo courtesy National Parks Service). California red-legged frog tadpoles. (Photo courtesy Robin Riggs/Aquarium of the Pacific). Show Caption1 of 2The National Parks Service releases about 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles into the Santa Monica Mountains. (Photo courtesy National Parks Service). ExpandWhile the creature once boasted an abundant population in the western U.S. — found in 46 counties from Northern California to Baja Mexico, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — the California red-legged frog has lost 70% of its original range, largely because of habitat loss and change, alongside the prevalence of invasive species.
“The population of red-legged frogs in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills is worryingly small and isolated,” NPS’ website said, “and there is great concern about its long-term persistence, especially since the Woolsey Fire swept through the area in November 2018.”
But having any California red-legged frogs left in the Santa Monica Mountains in the present day is a bit of a miracle in itself — as the last known sighting of them in the region, before modern conservation efforts got underway, was in the 1970s.
“(The frogs) appeared to blink out of existence in the Santa Monica Mountains in the mid-20th century,” NPS said. “The last confirmed sighting was in the early 1970s, but conservationists were not content to let an iconic species vanish without a fight.”
But then, NPS and many partners — including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California State Parks, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy — launched an effort to restore the frog’s presence in the mountains, which they successfully did for the first time in 2014.
It wasn’t until three years later, in 2017, that scientists discovered the first batch of California red-legged frog eggs in the Santa Monica Mountains that were bred by the frogs themselves — rather than transplanted there by biologists. It was a major milestone for the species’ recovery in the area, NPS said.
But the frogs faced another set back when the 2018 Woolsey fire burned a majority of their habitat in the mountains, which was followed with a heavy rainy season, further damaging the frogs’ habitat, NPS said.
“A year later, biologists discovered adult frogs at all of the sites that had survived the fire and silt,” NPS said. “Currently, there are a couple of reintroduction sites in and around the Santa Monica Mountains where the frogs are thriving and back to their pre-fire breeding numbers. That’s the heartening news.”
The most recent LA wildfires in January were yet another obstacle for the frogs — and an additional reason NPS biologists set out to rescue the red-legged frog eggs in March.
“This project has had its share of ups and downs over the years,” said Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area ecologist Katy Delaney. “But with committed partners like the aquarium, we’re writing another hopeful chapter in the comeback story of the California red-legged frog.”
NPS biologists will continue monitoring the sites where the tadpoles were released to track their development and the success of their intervention, the news release said.
“Biologists are now cautiously optimistic that these young froglets could help tip the scales toward recovery,” the aquarium’s news release said.
To learn more about California’s red-legged frogs, visit tinyurl.com/NPSFrogs.
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