Listing Actions

Endangered Species Bulletin, July, 2000

During April and May 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published the following Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing actions in the Federal Register. The full text of each proposed and final rule can be accessed through our website: http://endangered.fws.gov.

Proposed Rules

Mississippi Gopher Frog The Service proposed on May 23 to list the Mississippi population of the dusky gopher frog (Rana capito sevosa) as endangered. Historically, this distinct population segment existed in the longleaf pine forests of the lower coastal plain from east of the Mississippi River in Louisiana to the Mobile River delta in Alabama. It has not been seen in Louisiana since 1962 or in Alabama since 1922. Today, only 100 adult frogs remain, all in one pond in Harrison County, Mississippi. Biologists believe loss and degradation of habitat is the primary reason the species has declined.

The Mississippi gopher frog is a mid-sized stocky frog that reaches 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) in length. It ranges in color from black to brown to gray. The frog's habitat includes both longleaf pine forest and isolated, temporary breeding sites in forested landscapes. Adult frogs spend most of their lives underground in forests with an open canopy and abundant ground cover. They use active and abandoned gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows, abandoned mammal burrows, and holes in and under old stumps as their underground retreats.

Because of the small number of remaining Mississippi gopher frogs, the species is extremely vulnerable to even natural processes such as drought and floods, and to further toss, damage, and fragmentation of its habitat. These threats, singly or combined, could cause the frog's extinction.

The single breeding pond used by the frogs is located at the edge of Mississippi's DeSoto National Forest, just 656 feet (200 meters) from a proposed 4,600-acre (1,860 hectare) residential development. This project and the associated development it would bring to the area, including highways and a proposed reservoir, could damage or destroy the frog's only remaining habitat.

Natural fires historically have been essential to maintaining the frog's habitat but now are controlled. Biologists have used prescribed burns to maintain the habitat. If development occurs near the breeding pond, however, they may be limited in the use of this management tool because of concerns about public safety and smoke.

Only those landowners in the immediate vicinity of the breeding, pond would be affected by the proposed listing. Recreational land use activities such as hunting and fishing would not be affected. The Service has been working with the U.S. Forest Service since 1988 to protect the last remaining Mississippi gopher frog population. In addition, both agencies have joined forces to rehabilitate a nearby pond as a future breeding site for the rare frog. The Service, in conjunction with researchers at Southeastern Louisiana University, has developed a strategy to introduce egg masses into this pond and to determine if the eggs can successfully develop into juvenile frogs at the site.

Two Oregon Plants On May 15, the Service proposed to protect two rare plants in southwestern Oregon, Cook's lomatium (Lomatium cookii) and the large-flowered wooly meadowfoam (Limnanthes floccosa ssp. grandiflora), as endangered. Cook's lomatium, a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), is a small perennial with pale yellow flowers. The meadowfoam,which belongs to the false mermaid family (Limnanthaceae), is a small annual with whitish petals and fuzzy leaves.

Both plants grow in a type of seasonal wetland known as a "vernal pool" in the Agate Desert in Jackson County, Oregon. Urbanization, residential and industrial development, road construction and maintenance, livestock grazing, agricultural development, unauthorized off-road vehicle use, and changes in water usage have contributed to the decline of these plants and their habitat. Cook's lomatium sites to the west in Josephine County are also threatened by habitat alteration associated with gold mining and logging, as well as by non-native plants moving into the habitat because of fire suppression.

Biologists have identified 13 populations of Cook's lomatium and 10 populations of large-flowered woolly meadowfoam in the Agate Desert. Several lomatium populations grow on Bureau of Land Management lands, but the meadowfoam grows mostly on private property. Large populations of meadowfoam grow on land owned by The Nature Conservancy, which manages its land to benefit native species.

Biologists have discovered the vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi), a small freshwater crustacean already listed as threatened, in some of the vernal pools that are home to the plants. Local government agencies and citizens in southwest Oregon are exploring regional planning options that could lead to the preservation of some vernal pools.

Two Southwestern Plants On April 12, the Service proposed to list two plant species native to the southwestern Utah/northeastern Arizona border area as endangered. The Holmgren milk-vetch (Astragalus holmgreniorum) is restricted to Washington County, Utah, and an adjacent part of Mojave County, Arizona. The Shivwits milk-vetch (Astragalas ampullariodes) occurs only in Washington County. Both plants are herbaceous perennials in the pea family (Fabaceae).