article
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../LIFE/709140315
By MIKE STAHLBERG
for The Associated Press
September 14, 2007
SWEET HOME — Most people you see turning over rocks in the Santiam River or its tributaries are prospectors looking for flakes of yellow metal.
But the flash of yellow Chris Rombough triumphantly pulled from beneath a boulder in the South Santiam River was on the underside of a frog — a foothill yellow-legged frog to be exact.....
Rombough, a private herpetologist, was hired by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to prospect up to 567 miles of streams in the Santiam and Calapooia river basins in search of what's left of the yellow-legged frog population in the Willamette Valley.
And the once-common amphibians now may be even more scarce than gold dust.
"The yellow-legged frog population in the Willamette Basin has gone from very abundant to almost completely extirpated in less than 50 years," Rombough said. A few dozen breeding-age yellow-legged frogs in two sites are all that remain.
Meanwhile, most other frogs and toads native to Oregon are also in decline — 10 of 12 species are on the state "sensitive species" list.
The yellow-legged frog "is one of the poster critters" for the Oregon Conservation Strategy, said Anne Mary Myers, sensitive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The conservation strategy is intended to help "at-risk" species of fish and wildlife before they require protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. It identifies conservation measures needed to help dozens of species in all areas of the state.
No Oregon frog or toad species is currently listed under the Endangered Species Act. In the case of the yellow-legged frog, listing is staved off by the fact populations remain in relatively good shape in several areas of southwest Oregon and northwest California (although the species has already disappeared from some drainages), Rombough said.
But frog and toad numbers appear to be in a downward spiral, with most native Oregon species listed as "vulnerable" by the state. Two species (the Oregon spotted frog and the northern leopard frog) are "critical," according to state biologists.
Federal listing requires expensive regulatory remedies. The Oregon Conservation Strategy relies on a voluntary, non-regulatory approach that depends on cooperation from landowners and public agencies who want to help at-risk wildlife. Most often, the help needed is in the form of protecting or restoring habitat critical to the species' survival.
Yellow-legged frogs in the Willamette Basin have probably been hurt most by construction of dams, Rombough said. In other parts of the frog's range, losses are also blamed on airborne agricultural pesticides, predation from nonnative species such as bullfrogs, and logging and grazing in riparian zones.
"This is a very unusual frog species because they love to bask in the sun," said Rombough, who speaks about frogs and snakes with the animated enthusiasm of a 10-year-old boy. "They are very specific in their habitat requirement."
On the South Santiam, a 400-yard-long stretch adjacent to River Bend park provides the right combination of water flows, clean spawning gravel, plenty of sunshine and side channels with pools in which tadpoles can grow.
"This is an extremely unique site," Rombough said. "This bend is the only spot on the un-dammed Santiam that has got a lot of off-channel habitat for the frogs."
Rombough, who began monitoring the River Bend frog population on his own accord eight years ago, says it appears to be holding stable at 40 to 60 adults.
"You've got as many frogs here as the habitat can support," he said.
Rombough's intensive stream survey work — funded by a $38,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant — is expected to provide a "protocol" for locating and estimating yellow-legged frog populations in other river basins.
"Just knowing where the critters are is actually a big help" in identifying "key habitats" and measures that can be taken to protect them, Myers said, adding that the foothill yellow-legged frog "is a species that could really benefit from conservation" and, perhaps, relocation efforts.
At River Bend Park, the county parks department routed a trail away from sensitive habitat areas and posted signs urging people not to disturb frogs or tadpoles.
Even people who would prefer to avoid amphibians could have a stake in their protection, the biologists say.
"People talk about amphibians being a barometer of environmental health," Rombough said, "and the yellow-legged frog is a really good example because it requires similar hydraulic conditions to a lot of salmonids. But it's more sensitive to alterations, so it's the first thing you notice the change in."
Rombough said frogs are also "a huge biochemical reservoir" because each species has developed unique anti-bacterial and anti-fungal compounds in its skin to deal with the problem of being constantly moist.
It could even turn out that there's gold in them thar yellow-legged frogs.
"There may be economic importance to these little guys," Rombough said, "because they recently isolated a couple of compounds from their skin that are really useful in treating secondary infections in AIDS patients."
On the Net:
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: www.http://dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/news/OCT2006.asp
Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog: www.http://werc.usgs.gov/fieldguide/rabo.htm
CAPTION: Chris Rombough holds a yellow-legged frog along the North Fork of the Santiam River near Sweet Home. Rombough studied the population for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with a grant.
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../LIFE/709140315
By MIKE STAHLBERG
for The Associated Press
September 14, 2007
SWEET HOME — Most people you see turning over rocks in the Santiam River or its tributaries are prospectors looking for flakes of yellow metal.
But the flash of yellow Chris Rombough triumphantly pulled from beneath a boulder in the South Santiam River was on the underside of a frog — a foothill yellow-legged frog to be exact.....
Rombough, a private herpetologist, was hired by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to prospect up to 567 miles of streams in the Santiam and Calapooia river basins in search of what's left of the yellow-legged frog population in the Willamette Valley.
And the once-common amphibians now may be even more scarce than gold dust.
"The yellow-legged frog population in the Willamette Basin has gone from very abundant to almost completely extirpated in less than 50 years," Rombough said. A few dozen breeding-age yellow-legged frogs in two sites are all that remain.
Meanwhile, most other frogs and toads native to Oregon are also in decline — 10 of 12 species are on the state "sensitive species" list.
The yellow-legged frog "is one of the poster critters" for the Oregon Conservation Strategy, said Anne Mary Myers, sensitive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The conservation strategy is intended to help "at-risk" species of fish and wildlife before they require protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. It identifies conservation measures needed to help dozens of species in all areas of the state.
No Oregon frog or toad species is currently listed under the Endangered Species Act. In the case of the yellow-legged frog, listing is staved off by the fact populations remain in relatively good shape in several areas of southwest Oregon and northwest California (although the species has already disappeared from some drainages), Rombough said.
But frog and toad numbers appear to be in a downward spiral, with most native Oregon species listed as "vulnerable" by the state. Two species (the Oregon spotted frog and the northern leopard frog) are "critical," according to state biologists.
Federal listing requires expensive regulatory remedies. The Oregon Conservation Strategy relies on a voluntary, non-regulatory approach that depends on cooperation from landowners and public agencies who want to help at-risk wildlife. Most often, the help needed is in the form of protecting or restoring habitat critical to the species' survival.
Yellow-legged frogs in the Willamette Basin have probably been hurt most by construction of dams, Rombough said. In other parts of the frog's range, losses are also blamed on airborne agricultural pesticides, predation from nonnative species such as bullfrogs, and logging and grazing in riparian zones.
"This is a very unusual frog species because they love to bask in the sun," said Rombough, who speaks about frogs and snakes with the animated enthusiasm of a 10-year-old boy. "They are very specific in their habitat requirement."
On the South Santiam, a 400-yard-long stretch adjacent to River Bend park provides the right combination of water flows, clean spawning gravel, plenty of sunshine and side channels with pools in which tadpoles can grow.
"This is an extremely unique site," Rombough said. "This bend is the only spot on the un-dammed Santiam that has got a lot of off-channel habitat for the frogs."
Rombough, who began monitoring the River Bend frog population on his own accord eight years ago, says it appears to be holding stable at 40 to 60 adults.
"You've got as many frogs here as the habitat can support," he said.
Rombough's intensive stream survey work — funded by a $38,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant — is expected to provide a "protocol" for locating and estimating yellow-legged frog populations in other river basins.
"Just knowing where the critters are is actually a big help" in identifying "key habitats" and measures that can be taken to protect them, Myers said, adding that the foothill yellow-legged frog "is a species that could really benefit from conservation" and, perhaps, relocation efforts.
At River Bend Park, the county parks department routed a trail away from sensitive habitat areas and posted signs urging people not to disturb frogs or tadpoles.
Even people who would prefer to avoid amphibians could have a stake in their protection, the biologists say.
"People talk about amphibians being a barometer of environmental health," Rombough said, "and the yellow-legged frog is a really good example because it requires similar hydraulic conditions to a lot of salmonids. But it's more sensitive to alterations, so it's the first thing you notice the change in."
Rombough said frogs are also "a huge biochemical reservoir" because each species has developed unique anti-bacterial and anti-fungal compounds in its skin to deal with the problem of being constantly moist.
It could even turn out that there's gold in them thar yellow-legged frogs.
"There may be economic importance to these little guys," Rombough said, "because they recently isolated a couple of compounds from their skin that are really useful in treating secondary infections in AIDS patients."
On the Net:
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: www.http://dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/news/OCT2006.asp
Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog: www.http://werc.usgs.gov/fieldguide/rabo.htm
CAPTION: Chris Rombough holds a yellow-legged frog along the North Fork of the Santiam River near Sweet Home. Rombough studied the population for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with a grant.