The dusky gopher frog, a stocky frog with a loud, guttural call, is heard less often now in the longleaf pine forests of Mississippi. Once found in Louisiana and Alabama, as well as Mississippi, it’s now only found in four locations in Harrison and Jackson counties in southern Mississippi.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on a draft recovery plan for the dusky gopher frog.
“The dusky gopher frog is considered to be one of the 100 most endangered species in the world,” said Cindy Dohner, the Service’s Southeast Regional Director. “This recovery plan will help us improve the frog’s precarious position and the longleaf pine habitat it and other rare plant and animal species like the threatened gopher tortoise depend upon.”
The Technical/Agency Draft Recovery Plan for the Dusky Gopher Frog (Rana sevosa) lays out a strategy to help recover this endangered frog by ensuring sustainable and healthy populations and reducing threats to the species. It describes actions necessary for the frog’s recovery, establishes criteria for downlisting it to threatened status, and estimates the time and cost for implementing the needed recovery actions.
Public comments will be accepted on this draft recovery plan until November 10, 2014. To review the draft recovery plan online, visit the Service’s Mississippi Field Office website at http://www.fws.gov/mississippiES/. Please include “Dusky Gopher Frog Plan Comments” in the subject line of any comments e-mailed to the field office. To obtain a paper copy of the recovery plan or to submit comments, contact Linda LaClaire, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mississippi Field Office, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Jackson, MS 39213; telephone 601 321–1126, fax 601- 965-4340, or e-mail her at Linda_LaClaire@fws.gov.
The Service has been working with researchers and representatives from state and federal agencies and other organizations to improve the status of the frog since it was federally listed as endangered. These efforts were described and expanded by the recently created Dusky Gopher Frog Recovery Team and formalized into a draft recovery plan.
The goal of the recovery plan is to downlist the dusky gopher frog to threatened status by reducing the threats to the species and preventing its extinction. Downlisting to threatened will be considered when there are six genetically viable populations, each with at least two breeding ponds no more than a mile apart and not separated by any major barriers, such as highways or developed areas, which would disrupt movement of frogs between ponds. Also, 10 years of monitoring must demonstrate that these populations are stable; at least two successful breeding events must be documented over a three-year period. In addition, the frog’s breeding and upland habitat areas must occur in sufficient quantity and quality to support growing populations and be protected long term through management agreements, public ownership, or other means.
As presented in the draft recovery plan, the downlisting criteria include that the dusky gopher frog has six genetically viable populations across its historic range. These could include one population in Louisiana within portions of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes; two populations in south-central Mississippi within Forrest County and portions of George, Greene, Jones, Lamar, Marion, Pearl River, Perry, Stone, and Wayne Counties; two populations in south Mississippi within Hancock and Harrison Counties and portions of Jackson, George, Pearl River, and Stone Counties; and one population either in eastern Mississippi within portions of George, Greene, Jackson, Perry, and Wayne Counties or in Alabama within Mobile and Washington Counties and a portion of Choctaw County.
“We are seeking comments on this draft recovery plan and are particularly interested in receiving comments about the geographic areas where we might implement recovery actions,” said Leopoldo Miranda, Assistant Regional Director for Ecological Services in the Southeast Region. “These areas could be potential restoration or reintroduction sites for the species.”
Specific recovery actions in the recovery plan include developing a strategy to manage and enhance existing dusky gopher frog populations and their habitat; identifying and securing additional populations and habitat; and establishing new populations through translocations or reintroductions. Conducting research to guide land management and to provide further information on dusky gopher frog life history and ecology is also a task outlined in the plan.
The agencies, organizations and institutions represented on the Dusky Gopher Frog Recovery Team include: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Atlanta Zoo, Eastern Kentucky University, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Memphis Zoo, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Mitchell Ecological Research, The Nature Conservancy, University of Southern Mississippi, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Western Carolina University.
The dusky gopher frog’s disappearance from much of its historical range was primarily due to habitat destruction and alteration of the frog’s longleaf pine upland and breeding habitats. Continuing threats to the species’ habitat include fire suppression and habitat modification due to land uses, such as urbanization, forestry, and agriculture. Additionally, small population sizes and vulnerability to catastrophic events, such as droughts, threaten the frog.
More information concerning the dusky gopher frog can be found at the Mississippi Field Office website: http://www.fws.gov/mississippiES/
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