Outside the Ivory Tower: Yellow Legged Frogs Rule!

On May 15, 2013 the Board of Supervisors discussed sending a letter of opposition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service regarding their proposal to remove about 1.8 million acres from constructive use as designated habitat for the allegedly endangered or threatened yellow legged frog.  The Supervisors wisely decided to reopen this discussion at a later date as a public hearing with the intended presence of the Fish and Wildlife Service.  I made the following comments to the Supervisors which incorporate some statements I’ve made earlier:

 “Thank you for letting me speak. About a year ago I went to the Forest Service website to see what they were doing in our area and read about ten projects in the El Dorado National Forest.  One was  The Indian Valley Restoration Project which involved ‘three quarters of a mile of a tributary stream of Indian Creek using a series of plug and ponds to enhance habitat  for yellow- legged frogs, Yosemite toad, willow fly catcher’ and others.  Note the word enhance. Many within the Forest Service and in the proposal’s public comments stated that the project was unnecessary. Sometime later I went back to the Forest Service website and could not find those comments. Perhaps the project comments were taken off their website or perhaps it’s a lack in my computer skills. However, those proposal comments are public record and I would assume available to the County.

I also learned that plug means bringing in boulders from the Silver Lake area. Since many within the Forest Service want to ban vehicles by closing roads, I wondered what equipment was used. At a recent Forest Service public meeting I asked one of the forest rangers. I was told yes; they were using diesel trailer trucks or similar equipment.

While the Forest Service site gave details about the projects, their cost was conspicuously absent. So I emailed the Forest Service. Their prompt and courteous reply said that the Indian Valley Restoration Project “is estimated at about $200,000.” I would like to make the simple statement  that this environmental extravagance is a waste of taxpayer dollars, but I cannot say that since this money is borrowed from the Chinese and others, or just printed by the Federal Reserve which will curse us, at some  future time, with inflation and hurt lower income people the most.

Also over the past year I have been a member of the Amador County Transportation Commission’s Pine Grove Stakeholders Group. During this time two critical yellow legged frog habitats suddenly appeared in Pine Grove.  I don’t believe that the yellow legged frog and these other animals are endangered or even threatened. I don’t confuse an excuse with a reason. I do believe that these species are a subsidized, political constituency that are part of the larger picture of kicking people and economic activity out of rural areas. The discussions in this chamber regarding homeowners’ insurance, grey wolves, mountain lions, town centers in the General Plan and countless other topics are part of that same larger picture. I ask that you move forward with this letter of opposition to the designation of about 1.8 million acres as critical habitat.”

After I spoke someone told me that the project had changed and that Coca Cola is now financing it. This led me to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/r5/workingtogether/?cid=stelprdb5390138&width=full

Along with Coke another corporation is sponsoring this project as part of a partnership of about 11 organizations. Included is the Foothill Conservancy which is monitoring the project. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t say if they are getting paid. The project has now grown in scope to approximately 35 plug and ponds.  This involves three days for road construction, about one week for materials delivery and about three to four weeks for plug and pond construction.   Yet this new construction is called a restoration and is being sold to the public as such.  The project promoters are obliviously lying. Their only evidence is the Washoe Tribe claim that this is consistent with prehistoric conditions.

At a recent Upcounty Community Council meeting I heard that Gallagher’s Pub and adjoining facilities in Pioneer will soon be closing and that the greenhouse operation at the former cedar mill site is having financial trouble. Also discussed was Family Dollar Stores pressuring Payless Market in Pioneer to close. This is all a stark contrast to the resources devoted to plugs and ponds for the yellow legged frog. Some people’s priorities seem distorted. Perhaps I need a social psychologist to understand them.  But unless something changes we should all learn to love the yellow legged frog since our developing economy may depend on them.

Yellow legged frogs do, at least in coastal and nearby areas, have a real problem. A fatal parasite came here attached to the imported African clawed frogs. (Giant African land snails, which can transmit meningitis to humans, have also entered parts of the USA. Isn’t globalization wonderful? We send our jobs overseas and get back new diseases in return.)  But if yellow legged frogs are in danger, the approach of the environmental movement of propagating more of them has the consequence of spreading more of this parasite.  It’s as if medieval people decided to fight the black plague by having more children.  Instead, those who survived did so by cleaning the streets of rats and garbage and washing their bed linen more often. Common sense says to fight the disease as was done at the UC Davis campus. But this is not about the environment; it’s about social and economic control. As I stated to the Board of Supervisors: “I don’t confuse an excuse with a reason… these species are a subsidized political constituency that are part of the larger picture of kicking people and economic activity out of rural areas.”

Rather than being loved, the frogs are being used.  Personally, I am rather fond of frogs and have had some “pet” frogs on my property. And if I am ever able to complete my landscaping projects, I will have a frog habitat in my garden.

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Copyright 2013, Mark L. Bennett except for the section spoken to the Board of Supervisors, which is now public record.