Just a couple of weeks ago few people in Lake County had ever heard of the California red-legged frog, much less seen one. Then the news broke about how all trout stocking would be halted in Lake County (as well as at a number of other lakes throughout California) to protect the red-legged frog, which is on the endangered list. Environmental groups claim trout eat the red-legged frog.
The moratorium on the trout stocking enraged a lot of fishermen. In fact, the Lake County Board of Supervisors passed a proclamation on Tuesday requesting that the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) resume trout stocking in the local lakes. The lakes in the county that have been stocked with trout in the past include Upper Blue Lake, Lake Pillsbury and Indian Valley Reservoir. Whereas all three lakes also have bass and crappie, it”s the trout that have made the lakes popular with fishermen.
Lake County does have frogs. There are bullfrogs, tree frogs and foothill yellow-legged frogs, plus several other frogs, just no red-legged frogs. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn”t even list Lake County as critical red-legged frog habitat.
OK, so what is a red-legged frog and why is it causing so much controversy? It is the largest native frog in the Western United States (the bullfrog is not native to the West) and ranges in size from 1 1/2 to 5 inches. The abdomen and hind legs are red. Its diet consists of other frogs, bugs and even small mice. In fact, it will even eat its own offspring.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the historic range of the California red-legged frog extended along the coast from the vicinity of Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County and inland from the vicinity of Redding, Shasta County and southward to northwestern Baja California in Mexico.
California red-legged frogs have been documented in 46 counties in California, but now remain in only 238 streams or drainages in 31 counties. They are still locally abundant within portions of the San Francisco Bay area (including Marin County) and throughout the central coast.
Mark Twain immortalized the red-legged frog in his story titled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” At one time it was so popular that gold miners killed and ate thousands of red-legged frogs. The frogs even found their way onto the menus of several upscale San Francisco restaurants. However, the frog lost much of its critical habitat over the years. The use of pesticide in the frog habitat is also blamed for its rapid decline. It is estimated that the red-legged frog population has declined by 90 percent from historic levels. The Fish and Wildlife Service placed the red-legged frog on its endangered list in 1996.
Down through the years a number of environmental organizations have taken up the frog”s cause. They claim the decline of the frog is a strong indicator of what is happening to the environment, the reason being that frogs and other amphibians react quicker to environmental changes than do other creatures.
Along with the red-legged frog, the mountain yellow-legged frog was also placed on the endangered list. There are two species of yellow-legged frogs in California — the mountain yellow-legged frog and the foothill yellow-legged frog. Only the mountain yellow-legged frog is considered to be in danger. Lake County has a large population of foothill yellow-legged frogs but no mountain yellow-legged frogs.
The problem that many people in the county are having with the trout stocking ban is that the same lakes in the county where the stocking is now banned also have very large populations of bass, catfish and other predator fish. Largemouth bass are known to be at the top of the food chain when it comes to predation. They will normally beat out any other fish for the available food. They can also eat much larger prey than a trout. An adult red-legged frog would be little more than a tasty snack for a 5-pound bass.
If the endangered red-legged frog actually existed in Lake County, I”m sure that most local residents would support protecting it. The DFG dropped the ball by not completing an Environmental Impact Report on the statewide trout stocking program as ordered by the court. The losers in the end are the fishermen and the local businesses.
As for the red-legged frogs, they”re still not in Lake County and probably never will be.
