Amphibian Conservation Initiative

In 2001, the Pacific Rivers Council launched a new, national amphibian conservation initiative, modeled on our successful pilot work in California. We are now recognized as one of the few conservation groups focused on the plight of amphibians and their habitat. Our project aims to place amphibian issues in the center of other conservation efforts to preserve aquatic biodiversity in watersheds across the country.

Over the last few years, the public has become increasingly aware that amphibians are in catastrophic decline worldwide, but less well known is the extent of the decline in our own backyard. More and more data have become available in the past decade to indicate that frogs, toads, and salamanders are declining at alarming rates in virtually every region of the nation. For example, in the Sierra Nevada region of California, three sensitive amphibian species already are extinct in 50-99% of their historic ranges—the Yosemite toad, mountain yellow-legged frog, and California red-legged frog. Another four species in the western states of Oregon, California, Washington, Idaho, and Montana are candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the Appalachians, an estimated 14 million salamanders are lost annually due to forest management activities.

These declines are linked to a number of factors, but local habitat destruction is the biggest threat facing amphibians today. Livestock grazing, stream channelization, dam construction, timber harvest, off-road vehicle use, mining, agriculture, residential and recreational development, and use of herbicides and pesticides make up a partial list of harmful activities. Clearly, the need for habitat protection is paramount.

PRC's project is based on the premise that habitat protection should include a scientifically sound, spatially explicit network of refugia (such as we have promoted throughout the West and Southeast with aquatic diversity area maps for strictly aquatic species), and a conservation framework for actual on-the-ground protection and recovery. Working closely with scientists, federal and state agencies, and other conservation groups, our aim is to secure protection for individual species and the greater ecosystem they depend on.

As part of this project, we released our stunning Imperiled Amphibians of the West poster, featuring illustrations by the renowned herpetologist, Robert Stebbins. Learn more about the poster and how to order one.

Read about milestones in our amphibian conservation initiative.