Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog Monitoring Project

As part of our long-running partnership with the Plumas National Forest, we have been conducting frog surveys within the footprint of the 2007 Moonlight fire. We are currently monitoring the last extant genetic lineage of Diamond Mountain Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs (Rana sierrae). Although trends are not great within the current population, there is hope for restoration through Plumas National Forest’s partnership with  the San Francisco Zoo. 

The goal is to monitor the frog population via extensive snorkeling and visual encounter surveys, and locate any egg masses and/or tadpoles for immediate translocation to the San Francisco Zoo rearing facility. The purpose of this project is to preserve the genetic integrity of the Diamond Mountain SYLF population by rearing the eggs/tadpoles in the zoo environment, which is free from introduced and historically stocked predatory fish populations.

PAS staff are trained and permitted to handle these endangered amphibian species. Surveys for these species should not be conducted without supervision from a qualified biologist. 

Rana sierrae