None The Nature Conservancy in Arizona Press Releases Search All Press Releases Tamera Skrovan Phone: (602) 322-6996 E-Mail: tskrovan@tnc.org

Agreement Helps Re-Establish Threatened Frog in the Southwest

Tucson, AZ - A new agreement between ranchers in America’s southwest and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is helping to restore the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog. 

Named the “Safe Harbor Agreement”, this compromise allows ranchers on one million acres in Arizona and New Mexico to aid the frog without facing any repercussions if the frogs were to die.  Ranchers who previously provided the frogs with man-made habitat could have been held liable for any deaths of the threatened frogs. Chiricahua frogs have disappeared from 80% of their historic habitat, and some specialists believe that establishing populations in managed ponds on private land will be critical to its survival.  

This beneficial agreement has been two years in the making with The Nature Conservancy assisting the rancher-led Malpai Borderlands Group in promoting the frog’s survival.  Ranchers with the non-profit Group have led the way in maintaining frogs in livestock ponds and has been focused on conservation and preserving the area’s open space since 1994. 

The frog, which was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as “threatened” in 2002, has been on the decline due to a combination of disease, human water use and non-native predators.  Their native habitats were once streams, springs, pools and marshy cienegas, but the rancher’s man-made tanks and ponds are increasingly becoming their only means for survival.

With the Safe Harbor Agreement now in place, it is more likely that new frog populations will be established.  The agreement is a success for the Conservancy, the Malpai Borderlands Group, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and more importantly, the Chiricahua leopard frog. Hopefully this effort will herald a new era of success in re-establishing this species in the Southwest.