NOTE The California red-legged frog critical habitat units listed below were designated in 2001. In 2002, a U.S. District Court ordered us to conduct an economic analysis of the designation. We reproposed the designation in 2004 with some changes, as noted below.

On 11/3/2005, we published a revised critical habitat proposal that reduces the proposed acreage by two-thirds, based on refined information and improved mapping capabilities. (See news release and revised units) The following units are preserved here for reference.

Overview Map - An index to the maps below

Unit 1 - North Fork Feather
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 - Deleted
Deleted from the proposed critical habitat determination.

Unit 3 - Weber Creek-Cosumnes
Drainages in the Weber Creek and North Fork Cosumnes River watersheds in El Dorado County.

This 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 - Deleted
Deleted from the proposed critical habitat determination.

Unit 5 - Yosemite Unit
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.

Note: Unit 5 was not vacated by the court order and is currently designated as critical habitat.

Unit 6 - Headwaters of Cottonwood Creek
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
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
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
Drainages found within and adjacent to Stebbins Cold Canyon Preserve and the Quail Ridge Wilderness Preserve in Napa and Solano counties.

Unit 9 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
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
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
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
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
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
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 unit 15 that had been included in the previous designation has been excluded because it is encompassed by the San Joaquin County Habitat Conservation Plan.

Unit 16 - Pajaro River
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
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
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
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
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-Morro Bay
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
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
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
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
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
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 Creeks
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 Creeks
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
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
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 that had been included in the previous designation has been excluded because it is encompassed by the West Riverside County Habitat Conservation Plan.

Unit 31 - Tujunga
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).

Note: Unit 31 was not vacated by the court order and is currently designated as critical habitat.

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