Contacts
Al Donner
916/414-6566, 712-2004
Al_Donner@fws.gov
Questions & Answers
Critical Habitat Units
Responding to a court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today reproposed 4.1 million acres in 28 California counties as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog. This native amphibian is widely believed to have inspired Mark Twain’s fabled short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
The Service originally established critical habitat for the California red-legged frog on March 13, 2001. A lawsuit challenging the designation was filed in the Northern District Court of California on June 8, 2001. Plaintiffs included the Home Builders Association of Northern California, California Chamber of Commerce, California Building Industry Association, California Alliance for Jobs, and the Building Industry Legal Defense.
Most of the 2001 designation was vacated by the District Court on Nov. 6, 2002. The court cited deficiencies in both the final rule establishing the critical habitat designation, and the economic analysis done in anticipation of the rule. It ordered the Service to conduct a new economic analysis and publish a new critical habitat proposal by March 2004, and a final revised rule by November 2005. This proposed rule is published in accordance with the Nov. 6, 2002, consent decree.
"To help ensure that the final critical habitat is designated as accurately as possible, we encourage people to review our proposal in detail," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service’s California/Nevada Operations office. "We are particularly interested in comments on economic impact, on the scientific accuracy of the primary constituent elements defined in this proposal, and whether the two recently discovered populations of California red-legged frogs in Youngs Creek, in Calaveras County, and in artificial ponds in Nevada County should be included in designated critical habitat."
About one-third of the 4.1 million acres designated is in public ownership and managed by Federal, State or local government entities. The remainder of the acreage is in private ownership. The lands are located in the following counties: Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Tuolumne and Ventura.
Amphibians worldwide appear to be on the decline. Amphibians are good "indicators" of significant environmental changes that may go initially undetected by humans. Humans breathe through lungs, which are inside their bodies and thus protected from direct contact with air and water. Amphibians, however, breathe partially (and in some species, completely), through their skin, which is constantly exposed to the environment. Their bodies are much more vulnerable and sensitive to factors such as disease, pollution, toxic chemicals, radiation and habitat destruction. The worldwide occurrences of amphibian declines and deformities may be an early warning to us of serious ecosystem imbalances.
Due to budget and time constraints, this reproposal reflects the critical habitat designation made by the Service in 2001. However, this proposal may be revised based on comments received during the comment period, the economic analysis that will be prepared on the reproposal, and the review of other information available to the Service.
Areas excluded from this proposed critical habitat designation include:
· The San Joaquin County Multi-Species/Open Space Habitat Conservation Plan and The Western Riverside Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, which were excluded because the Service believes that the benefits of excluding them outweigh the benefits of including them;
- Vandenberg Air Force Base and Camp Parks U.S. Army Reserve Training Area, which were excluded because they have completed integrated natural resource management plans that provide adequate management for frogs; and,
- Camp San Luis Obispo, which was excluded in this proposed designation because the Service believes that the benefits of excluding it outweighed the benefits of including it.
"We are already working with the military, local governments and landowners on species management programs for the frog and other threatened and endangered species," Thompson said. "Our goal is to work cooperatively with all landowners and local governments to recover this threatened amphibian that for many Americans has become a beloved icon of California’s Gold Rush era."
Under the Endangered Species Act, critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations. These areas do not necessarily have to be occupied by the species at the time of designation. A designation does not set up a preserve or refuge and only applies to situations where Federal funding or a Federal permit is involved. It has no regulatory impact on private landowners taking actions on their land that do not involve Federal funding or permits.
Because the Service maps large areas without precise detail, structures such as houses, lawns, roads and other developed areas are not shown. Within the critical habitat boundaries, actions by Federal agencies on developed sites – that don’t contain the basic elements essential for the conservation of the frog – would not trigger a consultation with the Service. A complete set of maps and legal descriptions for the proposed critical habitat designation can be found in the 2001 critical habitat rule, which was published on March 13, 2001 (66 FR 14626.)
In 30 years of implementing the Endangered Species Act, the Service has found that the designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection to most listed species, while preventing the Service from using scarce conservation resources for activities with greater conservation benefits.
In almost all cases, recovery of listed species will come through voluntary cooperative partnerships, not regulatory measures such as critical habitat. Habitat is also protected through cooperative measures under the Endangered Species Act including Habitat Conservation Plans, Safe Harbor Agreements, Candidate Conservation Agreements and state programs. In addition, voluntary partnership programs such as the Service’s Private Stewardship Grants and Partners for Fish and Wildlife program also restore habitat. Habitat for endangered species is provided on many national wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife management areas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
– FWS –
California Red-Legged Frog Critical Habitat Units:
Unit 1 North Fork Feather Unit - Unit 1 consists of drainages within the North Fork Feather River watershed, some 115,939 acres in Butte and Plumas counties. The Plumas and Lassen national forests manage about 81 percent of this proposed unit, and the majority of the remaining area is privately owned. One of only three existing populations of California red-legged frogs are found in the French Creek watershed in Butte County.
Unit 2 South Fork Feather Unit – Unit 2 has been deleted from the proposed critical habitat determination.
Unit 3 Weber Creek-Cosumnes Unit - Unit 3 consists of drainages in the Weber Creek and North Fork Cosumnes River watersheds in El Dorado County. The unit, with one of only three known existing populations of California red-legged frogs in the Sierra Nevada, encompasses approximately 59,531 acres, of which 36 percent is within the El Dorado National Forest and 64 percent is privately owned.
Unit 4 South Fork Calaveras River Unit - Unit 4 has been deleted from the proposed critical habitat determination.
Unit 5 Yosemite Unit - Unit 5 consists of drainages found in the tributaries of the Tuolumne River and Jordan Creek, a tributary to the Merced River, in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. The unit encompasses approximately 124,336 acres, of which 100 percent is managed by Stanislaus National Forest or the National Park Service.
Unit 6 Headwaters of Cottonwood Creek Unit - Unit 6 consists of drainages found within the headwaters of Cottonwood and Red Bank creeks in Tehama County. The unit encompasses approximately 38,300 acres, of which approximately 18 percent is within the boundaries of the Mendocino National Forest; the majority of the remaining 82 percent is privately owned.
Unit 7 Cleary Preserve Unit - Unit 7 consists of drainages found within the watersheds that form the tributaries to Pope Creek in Napa County. The unit encompasses approximately 34,087 acres, of which approximately 88 percent is privately owned; the remaining 12 percent is managed by Federal or State agencies.
Unit 8 Annadel State Park Preserve Unit - Unit 8 consists of the Upper Sonoma Creek watershed found partially within Annadel State Park in Sonoma County. The unit encompasses approximately 6,326 acres, of which approximately 76 percent is privately owned and 24 percent is managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Unit 9 Stebbins Cold Canyon Preserve Unit -Unit 9 consists of drainages found within and adjacent to Stebbins Cold Canyon Preserve and the Quail Ridge Wilderness Preserve in Napa and Solano counties. The unit is comprised of watersheds that form Capell Creek, including Wragg Canyon, Markley Canyon, Steel Canyon and the Wild Horse Canyon watershed. The unit encompasses 21,227 acres, of which approximately 75 percent is privately owned and 25 percent is managed by the University of California Natural Reserve System, the Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy and the Bureau of Land Management.
Unit 10 Sears Point Unit - Unit 10 consists of Stage Gulch and Lower Petaluma River watersheds, tributaries to the Petaluma River. This unit is located in and adjacent to Sears Point in Sonoma and Marin counties and encompasses approximately 10,771 acres, all of it privately owned.
Unit 11 American Canyon - Unit 11 consists of watersheds within and adjacent to American Canyon Creek and Sulphur Springs Creek in Napa and Solano counties. Watersheds within this unit include Fagan Creek, a tributary to the Napa River, the Jameson Canyon watershed, and the Sky Valley and Pine Lake watersheds that flow into Lake Herman. The unit encompasses approximately 27,779 acres, of which 99 percent is privately owned.
Unit 12 Point Reyes Unit - Unit 12 consists of watersheds within and adjacent to Bolinas Lagoon, Point Reyes and Tomales Bay in Marin and Sonoma counties. This unit encompasses approximately 200,572 acres; 44 percent is managed by the National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation and the Marin Municipal Water District and 56 percent is privately owned.
Unit 13 Tiburon Peninsula Unit - Unit 13 consists of the Belvedere Lagoon watershed within and adjacent to the Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County. The unit encompasses approximately 1,554 acres, all of which is privately owned.
Unit 14 San Mateo-Northern Santa Cruz Unit - Unit 14 consists of coastal watersheds within San Mateo County and northern Santa Cruz County that drain into the Pacific Ocean. The unit encompasses approximately 237,955 acres, of which 83 percent is privately owned; the remaining 17 percent is primarily managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Unit 15 East Bay-Diablo Range Unit - Unit 15 consists of watersheds within Contra Costa, Alameda, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, San Benito, Merced and Fresno counties. The unit encompasses approximately 1,053,850 acres, of which 87 percent is privately owned; the remaining 13 percent is managed in part by East Bay Regional Park District, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, Contra Costa Water District, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Energy, California Department of Parks and Recreation, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California Department of Fish and Game, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Department of Water Resources. A portion of this unit has been excluded because it is encompassed by the San Joaquin County Habitat Conservation Plan.
Unit 16 Pajaro River Unit - Unit 16 consists of portions of two watersheds that are part of the Pajaro River Drainage, the Flint Hills watershed in San Benito County and the Santa Clara Valley watershed in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. The unit encompasses approximately 48,247 acres, and is all privately owned.
Unit 17 Elkhorn Slough-Salinas River Unit - Unit 17 consists of coastal drainages in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. The unit encompasses approximately 165,067 acres, of which 93 percent is privately owned; the remaining 7 percent is managed by California Department of Parks and Recreation and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Unit 18 Carmel River Unit - Unit 18 consists of drainages comprising the Carmel River watershed in Monterey County. This unit encompasses approximately 155,620 acres, of which approximately 26 percent of the land is managed by the Los Padres National Forest and the California Department of Parks and Recreation, while the remaining 74 percent is privately owned.
Unit 19 The Pinnacles Unit - Unit 19 consists of two watersheds, Gloria Lake and George Hansen Canyon, in San Benito and Monterey counties. This unit encompasses approximately 27,309 acres, of which 57 percent is managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management; the remaining 43 percent is privately owned.
Unit 20 Estrella River/Cholame Creek Unit - Unit 20 consists of the drainages comprising the Cholame Creek, Estrella River and the Saw Tooth Ridge watersheds in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties. The unit encompasses approximately 394,325 acres, of which 99 percent is privately owned and the remaining 1 percent is federally managed.
Unit 21 San Simeon Unit-Morro Bay Unit - Unit 21 consists of the coastal watersheds of San Luis Obispo County from Arroyo de la Cruz south to Los Osos Creek. The unit encompasses approximately 209,445 acres, of which 94 percent is privately owned; the remaining 6 percent is managed by the California Department of Fish and Game and Federal agencies.
Unit 22 Lopez Lake-Arroyo Grande Creek - Unit 22 consists of the watersheds of Arroyo Grande Creek and its tributaries in San Luis Obispo County. The unit encompasses approximately 85,254 acres, of which 79 percent is privately owned and the remaining 21 percent is managed by Los Padres National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management.
Unit 23 Coastal Dunes Unit - Unit 23 consists of coastal watersheds comprising the coastal dune ponds from Arroyo Grande south to San Antonio Creek in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The unit encompasses approximately 52,782 acres, of which 3 percent is managed by Federal, State and local municipalities (primarily the Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation), with the remaining 97 percent in private ownership.
Unit 24 Santa Ynez River Unit - Unit 24 consists of watersheds forming the Santa Ynez River in Santa Barbara County. The unit encompasses approximately 244,004 acres, of which approximately 60 percent is privately owned; the remaining 40 percent is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Los Padres National Forest.
Unit 25 Sisquoc River Unit - Unit 25 consists of watersheds forming the drainages of the Sisquoc River in Santa Barbara County. These include the Cherokee Spring, Ernest Blanco Spring, Horse Canyon, La Brea Creek, Manzano Creek and Peach Tree Spring watersheds. The unit encompasses approximately 121,785 acres, of which 39 percent is privately owned and 61 percent is managed by the Los Padres National Forest.
Unit 26 Coastal Santa Barbara Unit - Unit 26 consists of coastal tributaries west of Vandenberg Air Force Base, east to and including the Ellwood Canyon watershed in Santa Barbara County. The unit encompasses approximately 98,791 acres, of which 23 percent is managed by the Los Padres National Forest and the California Department of Parks and Recreation; the remaining 77 percent is privately owned.
Unit 27 Matilija-Sespe-Piru Creek Unit - This unit consists of watersheds that comprise portions of the Matilija, Sespe, and Piru Creek drainages in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. The unit encompasses approximately 313,716 acres, of which 96 percent is managed by the Los Padres National Forest and 4 percent is privately owned.
Unit 28 San Francisquito-Amargosa Creek Unit - This unit consists of the drainages that consist of San Francisquito and Amargosa creeks in Los Angeles County, including all or parts of the Lancaster, Rock Creek, Acton, Bouquet Eastern, Mint Canyon and Sierra Pelona watersheds. The unit encompasses approximately 105,890 acres, of which 99 percent is managed by the Angeles National Forest.
Unit 29 Malibu Coastal Unit - This unit consists of the upper coastal watersheds in Ventura and Los Angeles counties that drain into the Pacific Ocean near Malibu, including the West Las Virgenes Canyon, Lindero Canyon, Sherwood, Triunfo Canyon, East Las Virgenes Canyon and Monte Nido watersheds. The unit encompasses approximately 52,475 acres, of which approximately 67 percent is privately owned and 33 percent is managed in part by the National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation and local municipalities.
Unit 30 Santa Rosa Plateau/Santa Ana Mountains Unit -This unit consists of portions of the watersheds comprising the Santa Rosa Plateau and the Santa Ana Mountains in Riverside and San Diego counties, including Deluz Creek, Murrieta and San Mateo Canyon watersheds. The unit encompasses approximately 57,627 acres, of which approximately 69 percent is managed by the Forest Service and approximately 31 percent is privately owned (a portion of which is owned by the Nature Conservancy). A portion of this unit has been excluded because it is encompassed by the West Riverside County Habitat Conservation Plan.
Unit 31 Tujunga Unit - This unit consists of portions of the Tujunga watersheds in Los Angeles County. The unit encompasses approximately 73,500 acres, of which approximately 100 percent is managed by the Forest Service (Angeles National Forest).
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