The Last Stand:

What It Takes To Preserve A Dying Species

It only costs $10,250 per year to preserve the Relict Leopard frog, according to the official 2005 recovery plan from the Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Team. If just a little portion of the profits generated from the tourist industry are diverted to the protection of the Relict frog, they would have a chance to survive. BILLIONS of dollars a year are being generated from activities harming this species. A few thousand can be spared easily. The governments of the states that contain these frogs need to step up and protect their own native species by providing funding. The following steps can be found in the 2005 conservation plan for the Relict Leopard frog. The $10,250 funding would be going to these very important steps.

Public Outreach

Create tools for public education.
Put brochures and other informational items in places with heavy foot traffic.
Have RLFCT place regulatory signs at certain threatened sites.
Create informational materials and programs to educate people on the Relict Leopard frog’s habitat and how to manage it.
Promote educational programs through media (Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Team, 2005).

A Relict Leopard Frog hiding in the mud. The mud provides the species with shelter, protection from predators, and is a prime breeding ground for its prey.

Managing Invasive Species

Inspect habitats occupied by the frogs or that they will be relocated to for presence of nonnative and invasive species.
Get rid of or control nonnative and invasive species.
Evaluate if it’s worth it to remove tamarisk, a type of tree, or to just control it in habitats.
Compare the effects of native and invasive species at occupied and relocation habitats (Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Team, 2005).

Recreation Management

Minimize threats to the frog by managing recreational use in occupied habitats.
Create and look over new proposals for recreational development. This prevents negative impacts not only on occupied habitats, but potential ones as well.
Ban introducing nonnative or invasive plants directly by humans. Do this by educating, informing, and enforcing.
Ban introducing nonnative or invasive animals directly by humans. Do this by educating, informing, and enforcing.
Monitor conservation actions, determine if they are effective and can be incorporated into the future. Actions 3.9 and 4.4 of the AMP review.
Make sure the mitigation protocol and requirements of App. 3 revisions are effective (Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Team, 2005).

Reducing Threats From Water Development

Answer water rights filings representing potential threats to occupied habitats.
Look at any surface water development proposals to see if they will impact an occupied habitat.
Any development activity that potentially harms habitats needed to be looked over, assessed, and responded to through AMP review.
Creating and implementing a mitigation protocol to apply to all projects (construction and maintenance) near/affecting habitats
Watching over the current mitigation actions while incorporating future mitigation requirements and revisions (Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Team, 2005).

The Official Conservation Plan

Click on photo for link

Analysis: The basis of the Relict Leopard Frog Conservation Plan is to restore Relict populations through reducing threats to the population in culling nonnative predators and ensuring genetic diversity by grouping the current populations together onto a singular, maintained preserve. A second benefit of having the entire species of frogs grouped together on a single preserve is it assists monitoring the species in order to ensure its continued survival. However, negatives of this current plan is that it relegates the species to a single location, preventing the species from spreading outwards to new habitat and depriving ecosystems of their Relict Leopard Frogs. Regardless, the importance of ensuring the species survival surpasses that of keeping the species spread out, increasing its likelihood of extinction through isolation. Priority must be given to preventing this extinction of a necessary species, with larger steps being taken to widen the species geographical range once the population increases to a healthy amount.