Elko official says spotted-frog pact could be cattle-friendly

Monday, July 7, 2003 | 3:09 a.m.

REGIONAL ED: Attribute to nvelk

ELKO, Nev.- Elko County officials seeking a conservation agreement to head off another endangered species listing say responsible livestock grazing is compatible with protecting a troubled frog.

Federal scientists currently are studying possible causes of the declining populations of the Columbia spotted frog along with other amphibians in the region.

By the end of summer, officials from several government agencies in Nevada and Elko County hope to reach a conservation agreement that would serve as an alternative to federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

County officials have been struggling for five years with federal protection of the threatened bull trout under the act.

Kent McAdoo, natural resource specialist for Elko County's agricultural extension service, said he'll make a presentation to county commissioners on Wednesday regarding the frog.

He told the Elko Daily Free Press he's proposing language be added to a draft conservation agreement that would make a formal distinction between careful and careless livestock grazing.

Ranchers for years have insisted there's a difference between the two, but there's no agreement on that among other groups, including government agencies.

Many conservationists continue to call for an end to grazing of privately owned livestock on public land, saying grazing is a harmful and predominating land use that tends to bar other uses.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the frog as a candidate for federal protection in 1993 but never put it on the endangered species list.

The draft agreement in Nevada notes that woody debris lying undisturbed in wet areas is important for frog habitat. For example, it states that keeping cows off the West Fork of Deer Creek in Elko County for 20 years has allowed re-establishment of woody cover for the frog.

"However," McAdoo's proposed reads, "not all livestock grazing is detrimental to riparian and aquatic habit.

"Investigators (have) found that 'riparian grazing' and 'improper riparian grazing' were not necessarily synonymous. ... Various management strategies that limit livestock loitering within the riparian zone of a given pasture have been found to be more important than either season of use or length of time in the pasture per se."

Many proposed revisions are less significant than McAdoo's.

"A lot of it is just tweaking," said Anita Cook, staff fisheries specialist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. "We're hoping to get all the agency honchos scheduled together by the end of August or early September."

Rancher Harvey Barnes of Jiggs told county land-use commissioners in May he has spotted frogs on his allotment. He said he believed that "unreasonable" grazing could threaten the spotted frog, but that the practice is rare.

Rich Haskins, chief of the wildlife department's fisheries bureau, said officials want the agreement to do two things: prevent the listing of the frog and protect the fragile species from further decline.

Information from: Elko Daily Free Press