Wildlife in West Virginia - Types of West Virginian Animals

Conservationists Fight To Save Critically Endangered Amphibians As Trump Guts Endangered Species Act

This week, conservationists from the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife teamed up with curators at the Los Angeles Zoo to preserve the critically endangered species. They trekked up to the pools carrying the endangered tadpoles and frogs in specialized temperature controlled backpacks.

Although zoos and other wildlife organizations sometimes face criticism over concerns about animal welfare, breeding and raising an "assurance colony" in captivity can be one of the last recourses for an endangered species. These captive assurance colonies, which are organized by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plans, are breeding programs that ensure a species won't go extinct even if it does so in the wild.

L.A. Zoo's science, research, and captive breeding expertise is often utilized in the community and around the world to save endangered species in the wild. Recchio's team breeds the assurance colony of Southern mountain yellow-legged frog tadpoles in a quiet, temperature-controlled, biosecure closet-like shed that's big enough for about three people, a few dozen adult frogs and hundreds of tadpoles. They adjust the amount of daylight and the temperature in the aquariums on a daily basis to match the outside environment and exactly mimic the frog's natural lifestyle. This facilitates breeding and prepares the animals for their eventual release into the wild.

Federal wildlife authorities from the Forest Service chose and then prepared the release site, working to secure a location free of the non-native trout. The tadpoles and frogs are released sometime during the month of August, their time of peak activity. This gives them a chance to activate, feed, hide and get established before winter sets in.

Conservationists released about a thousand critically endangered Southern mountain yellow-legged... [+] frog tadpoles into shallow pools in the San Gabriel Mountains

Credit: Laura Faye Tenenbaum

After the release, the U.S. Geological Survey is responsible for returning to this location to check on the frogs in the spring, the summer and the late summer. They'll check water level changes, habitat changes, water temperate, pH, dissolved particles, creek flow and sedimentation. They'll also look for eggs and monitor the population.

The overarching goal of this release program is to establish enough wild populations so that these frog colonies will be as robust as possible to deal with the changing climate. The conservation team understands that preserving this rare amphibian will likely take several more seasons of critical work.

THE AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE EXTINCTION CRISIS

Amphibians and reptiles are amazing creatures with clever adaptations that have allowed them to brave the millennia. Consider the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard's scaly hind toes, which resemble snowshoes and keep the lizard from sinking into sand as it sprints away from predators; or the hellbender's loose frilly skin that helps it breathe underwater. Such diversity is vital to functioning ecosystems and enriches humankind's enjoyment of the natural world. 

But today herpetofauna are among the most imperiled species on Earth. Ubiquitous toxins, global warming, nonnative predators, overcollection, habitat destruction and disease are key factors leading to their demise. Globally, about 20 percent of evaluated reptiles are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. The situation is particularly dire for turtles—approximately 61 percent of the world's turtles are threatened or already extinct.

The situation is even worse for amphibians. More than 41 percent of the world's amphibians are at risk of dying out. These species are slipping away faster than we can study them.

The Center outdid itself in protecting these amazing creatures in 2012, when we made the biggest-ever move to protect amphibians and reptiles in the United States, filing a mega-petition requesting Endangered Species Action protection for 53 amphibians and reptiles in 45 states. The petition, filed with E.O. Wilson, Thomas Lovejoy and other scientists, asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect six turtles, seven snakes, two toads, four frogs, 10 lizards and 24 salamanders under the Act. Since filing the petition, the Center has worked diligently to ensure these reptiles and amphibians receive federal protections before it's too late.

Check out our FAQ about amphibians and reptiles and sign up for email alerts about how you can help save these and other species.

Almost since our inception, the Center has worked to protect reptiles and amphibians. By filing petitions that urge federal wildlife agencies to provide Endangered Species Act protection for imperiled herps — and following up with lawsuits when necessary — the Center has obtained federal safeguards and critical habitat for dozens of amphibians and reptiles, from the Chiricahua leopard frog to the Jollyville Plateau salamander to the eastern massasauga rattlesnake. To make the most of these federal protections, the Center has also obtained recovery plans — essential "roadmaps to recovery" — for species like the California tiger salamander and the dusky gopher frog.

Stemming the herpetofauna extinction crisis means attacking it on every front; the Center's conservation efforts are almost as diverse as the animals we're working to protect. To reduce impacts of toxic pesticides on herps like the California red-legged frog, the Center secured settlements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service that prohibit the use of dozens of toxic pesticides near core habitats and require analysis of the impacts of certain pesticides on endangered species. Our campaign for fish-stocking reform aims to protect the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and other amphibians from nonnative trout, while litigation against the Forest Service has helped curb grazing-driven habitat destruction for the Oregon spotted frog, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and Yosemite toad.

The Center also fights to protect native herpetofauna from the harmful impacts of nonnative species. To protect salamanders in the United States, the Center secured an import ban on exotic salamanders that carry a deadly pathogen.  And in California we're working to stop the importation of bullfrogs, an invasive species that preys on, competes with, and spreads disease to native amphibians and other wildlife.

While threats like our warming climate require efforts across the globe, threats like human persecution can be addressed by working at the level of communities or regions. For example, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake is facing population declines due in part to "rattlesnake roundups," which are contests calling for hunters to collect (and later kill) as many snakes as they can in a year. Through our campaign to outlaw rattlesnake roundups, the Center has convinced several local communities to turn these gruesome contests into wildlife-appreciation festivals and continues to put the pressure on remaining roundups to follow suit. We also played a key role in Texas's decision to propose a rule banning wildlife "gassing" — a harmful and indiscriminate form of take that threatens rattlesnakes, frogs and many other burrowing species — and we're fighting to make that proposal a reality.

Freshwater turtles are also threatened by human persecution, namely by overcollection for the food and pet trades. Our successful ongoing campaign on behalf of the nation's turtles has prompted several states to regulate turtle trapping and led to restrictions on the international turtle trade, important steps toward reversing their alarming declines.

Though amphibians and reptiles represent some of the most rapidly disappearing species on Earth, they've long been underrepresented when it comes to wildlife protection. So in 2010 the Center made certain that animals like the California tiger salamander have their very own champion by hiring the nation's first full-time attorney dedicated to conserving herpetofauna. Today the Center has two full-time staff lawyers dedicated to protecting rare reptiles and amphibians, from the longleaf-pine flatwoods of the Southeast to the wetlands of the Pacific Northwest and everywhere in between.

Counting Critters: Vermont Reptile And Amphibian Atlas Turns 30

Cedulie Benoit-Smith is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont's Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.

When Jim Andrews began work on the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas in 1994, the goal was simple: collect information to help inform the decisions of the state committee deciding which species should be listed, and protected, as endangered. 

Thirty years later, the small project has amassed 123,000 entries as its collaborators celebrate three decades pulling together data on critters across the state.

Andrews, one of the first environmental studies graduates at the University of Vermont, was working as a middle school science teacher back in the 1980s. He wanted to return to fieldwork and found his way to the Vermont Reptile Amphibian Scientific Advisory Group, which gives guidance on reptiles and amphibians to the Vermont Endangered Species Committee. What would informally be called the Vermont Herp Atlas (from herpetology, the study of those kinds of animals) took shape in his work for the group, starting in 1994.

Andrews has chaired the advisory group since 1995. "At that time, we didn't really even have a complete list of the reptiles and amphibians in Vermont, let alone relative abundance or distribution … We didn't have the data that we needed to really back up the recommendations that we felt we needed to make," he said.

Within a year of the advisory group putting together its first atlas, Andrews and other collaborators set out to distribute the document to schools and libraries. One was Shoreham Elementary School, where a then-fifth-grader named Kiley Briggs pored over his copy.

"When I got my printed 1995 atlas … I saw that there wasn't very much from the town of Shoreham, where I lived," said Briggs. "I thought, 'Well, I could help change the map.'" 

Already an outdoorsy kid, he started filling out reports with what he saw, viewing the atlas as a collaborative science project. Years later while working as an intern for Andrews, Briggs came across an unverified record of a gray tree frog on a lawnmower in Shoreham that had been submitted by a familiar name: his. Briggs did the honor of verifying the report from his fifth-grade self.

Briggs now works as the director of conservation at the Orianne Society, a nonprofit based in Tiger, Georgia, focused on conserving critical habitat for rare reptiles. He credits Andrews and the atlas with introducing him to the field.

"Jim was the first one that really introduced me to the concept of conservation and that these animals that I'm really interested in are in trouble," Briggs said. "And that maybe instead of wanting to grow up and keep them as pets … I could go (into) a conservation field. And it was just this eye opening moment for me of realizing that you could actually have a job doing that kind of work."

Briggs is one of many people in Vermont with a Herp Atlas story. With over 7,000 volunteers contributing their observations of reptiles and amphibians using the atlas website, the once-small project has become a keystone for community scientists.

The data collected and distributed by the Atlas has two purposes: to encourage community-based science and promote conservation practices.

"We use reptiles and amphibians as a conservation vehicle," Andrews said. "And they're a good vehicle because reptiles, amphibians, are species that people can see, they can handle, they can touch. Most people in rural states like Vermont … they do vary on their politics, but they're interested in wildlife. And you can start them there and then start talking about some of the threats like habitat loss and habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation, climate change."

The atlas continues to thrive as a result of community involvement, with 828 people submitting 3,382 records in 2023, Andrews said. In addition to sorting through submissions, Andrews and his staff traveled to 59 Vermont towns to confirm sightings last year. 

Confirming reptile and amphibian sightings has gotten significantly easier for the team over time, Andrews said, as nearly all submissions include a photo or video of the species of interest. In some cases, Andrews can look at image metadata and confirm where a picture was taken. Some species like frogs are easier to identify with an audio recording, he said. If a community member is empty handed when they encounter a species, they can still make a report using field markers — traits that make up a rubric for identifying an animal.

They are "certain critical things that you should see to determine what the species is," Andrews said. "And so let's say we're talking about a wood turtle: black head, orange flesh, growth rings on the scoots of the carapace — things that people should notice that will confirm their identification."

Grants from state and federal agencies help support Andrews and conservation biologist Kate Kelly as full-time employees. And the atlas team just wrapped up fundraising close to $20,000 to help pay part-time staff skilled with computer and data analytics, mapping, outreach, writing and photography skills, Andrews said.

"We hope to spin off people like (Kiley), give them some experience, give them some background and send them off into the world to do good things," he said.

As for the season of looking for reptiles and amphibians: Herping is in full swing. Some species came out of hibernation as early as mid-March: spotted salamanders, blue spotted salamanders, wood frogs, newts, peepers and red back salamanders all in the Champlain Valley. Once night temperatures get to the 50s, Vermont herp enthusiasts can expect to find Jefferson salamanders, gray tree frogs, American toads, green frogs and bullfrogs.

"It's become kind of a rite of spring," Andrews said. "It's one of the first things that you can do in spring that gets you out, and you get to see wildlife. It's the change of season. You know, it'd be like spawning fish or birds singing again. It's a sign that you're moving into the next field season."

To people hoping to see amphibians and reptiles moving at night this season Andrews offers the following advice:

— look for patches of open ground, with thawed soil

— the warmer the nighttime temperature, the better

— moisture is key, soil should be wet or they won't move

— all you really need is a strong flashlight

— watch your step! Some of the coolest salamanders are tiny

— don't look on busy roads, do wear visible colors

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