Comment Period for the Aquatic Habitat and Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog

Yosemite National Park News Release

May 4, 2006
For Immediate Release

Yosemite National Park Announces Public Scoping Comment Period for the Aquatic Habitat and Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Restoration Project

Yosemite National Park is proposing a project to restore a small number of remote, high-elevation lakes to their native fishless conditions to help restore mountain yellow-legged frog populations. Such low-impact fish removals will have a negligible effect on recreational fishing in Yosemite because a large proportion of the park's lakes will continue to harbor healthy fish populations. This project would also benefit hundreds of other amphibian, reptile, invertebrate, and bird species. Proposed project components include:
Re-establishing mountain yellow-legged frog populations at sites where they once were present.
Removing fish from less than a dozen small, high-elevation lakes. These lakes currently contain non-native populations of brook, brown, or rainbow trout. The planting of fish in many lakes and streams in the Sierra Nevada has been one of the negative factors thought to be causing the demise of the mountain yellow-legged frog, as these fish prey on frogs, eggs, and tadpoles.

Public scoping for this project will occur from May 17, 2006 through June 16, 2006. Scoping is an opportunity early in a planning process for the public, organizations, and other agencies to suggest issues to be considered by the National Park Service in preparing the proposed Environmental Assessment (EA). An EA is proposed to be issued for public review in early 2007 .

Written scoping comments should be postmarked no later than June 16, 2006. To request a hard copy or CD ROM version of the Environmental Assessment and to submit comments:

Mail: Superintendent, Yosemite National Park
Attn: Aquatic Habitat and Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Restoration Project
PO Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389

Fax: 209/379-1294

Email: YOSE_planning@nps.gov

Comments can be submitted during a public Open House to be held in Yosemite Valley in the Visitor Center Auditorium on May 31, 2006 from 1pm to 5pm. For more information, visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planning.

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