After decade in doubt, arroyo toads can breathe a bit easier around the San Dieguito River Valley...
San Dieguito River/Santa Ysabel Creek Basin, San Diego County: The San Dieguito River has two major dams, Lake Hodges and Lake Sutherland, which have eliminated some historical habitat in the basin through flooding, lack of sediment deposition, and hydrologic changes; however, there are still extensive stretches of suitable habitat remaining in the above-mentioned creeks.
-- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
After a decade in doubt, it's official; endangered arroyo toads can hang around Rancho Santa Fe
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally designated 2,347 acres of critical toad habitat for our toady frenemies. the habitat mainly consists of thread-leaved brodiaea, a rare Southern California lily threatened by urban development, off-road vehicles, grazing and plowing for fire clearance.
Toadtown extends in hopscotch blotches from Monterey County to San Diego County. Specifications were published last week in the Federal Register. That ended a 10-year legal battle between the feds and the Center for Biological Diversity over the fate of the toads, who hang around in but 23 small, isolated populations, including the San Dieguito River Valley that straddles Del Dios Highway.
“This is very important because there has been a catastrophic reduction in habitat for this toad in California,” said Ilene Anderson, a spokeswoman for the diversity center.
When Bufo californicus -- a small, buff-colored amphibian with dark spots and warts -- was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1994, it had lost more than 75% of its historic habitat to development, mining, agriculture and predation by non-native species.
The final designation for the arroyo toad includes about 72,596 acres of private lands, 21,982 acres under federal jurisdiction, 2,128 acres of state property and 1,660 acres of locally owned lands.
This represented a compromise. The original wildlife service proposal called for protecting 478,000 acres. The Bush administration in 2005 tried to change that to 11,695 acres.
“This is very important because there has been a catastrophic reduction in habitat for this toad in California,” said Ilene Anderson, a spokeswoman for the diversity center.
When Bufo californicus -- a small, buff-colored amphibian with dark spots and warts -- was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1994, it had lost more than 75% of its historic habitat to development, mining, agriculture and predation by non-native species.
The final designation for the arroyo toad includes about 72,596 acres of private lands, 21,982 acres under federal jurisdiction, 2,128 acres of state property and 1,660 acres of locally owned lands.
This represented a compromise. The original wildlife service proposal called for protecting 478,000 acres. The Bush administration in 2005 tried to change that to 11,695 acres.
For more, see the attached pdf file from the diversity center...
