Friday, May 10, 2002 | 9:11 a.m.
To most people, the relict leopard frog looks unremarkable -- a brown, spotted amphibian as long as your little finger.
But to scientists and environmentalists, the frog is a harbinger of widespread habitat change, signaled by the animal's virtual extinction in the Southwest.
Environmentalists have launched a campaign to secure federal protection for the frog, whose last known habitats are in a handful of springs around Lake Mead. Two groups -- the California-based Center for Biological Diversity and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance -- are petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put the frog on the list of formally "endangered" species.
Government officials say even if the frog is listed as endangered, it would not necessarily stop development in the area.
The environmental groups hope that inclusion in the list will help protect the 500 to 1,000 frogs estimated to survive in the region. In the last decade, populations have been wiped out at two of the last eight locations known to harbor the frogs.
The species once was commonly found at springs throughout the region, but by the 1950s was thought to have become completely extinct. Researchers rediscovered a few populations in the early 1990s.
"The relict leopard frog is a species on the brink," said Jeff Miller, center spokesman. "It is imperative that we protect the remaining springs where it occurs and that suitable habitat for reintroduction efforts is not further degraded by development and water projects."
By law, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for responding to a petition by accepting or rejecting the request. But Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Jenny Valdivia said the agency is overwhelmed with lawsuits from environmental groups and will not be able to respond to the petition.
"We're using all of our budget to deal with critical habitat lawsuits," Valdivia said. "We have no budget to respond to petitions, including this one.
"It's terrible to say, but it's kind of like, get in line."
Bob Williams, Fish and Wildlife field supervisor, said the funding problems could put the petition into indefinite hiatus -- the same fate of petitions for about a dozen other animals in the West.
But the agency has a safety valve. It could, if the evidence indicated an immediate threat, place the frog on an emergency listing, Williams said.
Miller said the agency will likely have to be forced to list the species as endangered.
"Unfortunately, the whole process is driven by litigation," he said. "They complain about lawsuits tying their hands, but the lawsuits are to force them to do their jobs."
According to the 70-page petition submitted to the federal government, the remaining frogs are threatened by development along the Virgin and Muddy rivers and groundwater pumping.
The petition notes that the "insatiable human demand for water in the arid region" inhabited by the frog is increasing, in part due to water-right applications from the Las Vegas Valley Water District and other water agencies.
Tracy Bower, a spokeswoman with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Water District's sister agency, said listing the frog as an endangered species would be "one more thing that you would consider" before development could occur, but it would not stop development.
"It doesn't mean that a resource can't be developed," Bower said. "You just have to take into account mitigation."
Fish and Wildlife officials also said that listing should not stop all development.
Alan Pinkerton, Clark County environmental division manager, said the county already has protections in place for the frog, which is one of 77 plants and animals covered by the county's Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
"If we did not have the MSHCP, and the relict leopard frog was listed as endangered, it could affect any decisions related to the habitat of the animal," he said. "Since it is listed (on the county plan), we have already identified actions to improve the habitat for that animal.
"That's the good news. If this species is listed it will not affect the valley or Clark County."
The county is working with the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife and others to protect the frog's habitat with the help of county funding, Williams said.
Miller, with the center, does not trust the county alone to protect the frog.
"We're not very confident that the county habitat plan will do it," he said. "County habitat plans are notorious for making promises."
But such plans are vulnerable to a loss of funding or policy changes, Miller said. Many such plans end up with target species disappearing, he added.
Such a fate could be in the frog's future without federal protections, agreed Mark Jennings, a research associate with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Jennings is one of the few experts on the animals.
"I would like to see it listed because it does bring the law to the forefront in protecting the animal," he said. "If it isn't listed, it is pretty clear that it will disappear. It won't be much longer."
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