Frank Santana, a research technician with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, prepares to make the first-ever release of endangered mountain yellow-legged frog tadpoles into a mountain stream. They are among 36 of the Southern California population of mountain yellow-legged frogs reintroduced into a stream near Idyllwild, Calif., Tuesday. There are believed to be less than 200 of the frogs living in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. Photo: CourtesyThe restoration of the Hill’s mountain yellow-legged frog population is continuing although no new releases of eggs are planned for 2012, according to Adam R. Backlin, ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center in Irvine.
“It looks like our captive breeding program this year did not produce as many new frogs as we had hoped. So we will not be releasing any frogs in 2012,” Backlin wrote in an email last week. “Instead we will be head starting the 200 to 300 new frogs to an older life stage in captivity and releasing them in 2013 as juvenile frogs.”
The team continues to monitor frog releases from 2011 and did detect tadpoles in the creek as recently as February 2012, he added.
They are hoping some of tadpoles released in 2011 will have survived this winter and metamorphose into frogs this summer.
Wednesday morning, March 20, Caltrans held a press conference at the U.S. Forest Service’s Cranston Fire Station to discuss the road situation and the county’s efforts to promote our town so the broader public knows it is still able to visit the mile-high hamlet of Riverside County. Only two days after the Mountain…
After low-flying helicopters over the Idyllwild area created an uproar because of their noise over the past few weeks, both Southern California Edison and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed they were hired by SCE to survey lines and poles in the area. SCE Media Advisor of Corporate Communications Mary Ann Milbourn said the surveys are…
The recent escalation in criminal activity in the Idyllwild area, including an armed robbery and a growing number of felony property crimes, has prompted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to call a community meeting in Idyllwild. Captain Scot Collins, Hemet Station Commander and staff will meet with Hill community members at a town meeting at the Idyllwild School gymnasium at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 24.
Hans Kernkamp, general manager and chief engineer of the Riverside County Waste Management Department, observed that additional fees could have the unintended effect of facilitating improper disposal of e-waste. He has inquired of Waste Management Inc., the company that operates the Idyllwild Transfer Station, if it would consider waiving the fee if “those costs were…
Update 2:28 p.m. Thursday June 6: SCE Media Advisor of Corporate Communications Mary Ann Milbourn also confirmed today that the helicopters have been hired by SCE to survey lines and poles in the area to not only prevent catastrophes, but to protect residents and visitors to the mountain communities. She also said that depending on…
