LEOPARD FROG (Lithobates chiricahuensis)
LEOPARD FROG (Lithobates chiricahuensis)
Once was once thought to be extinct, and found in more than 400 aquatic sites in the Southwest, the frog is now found at fewer than 80. In Arizona, the Chiricahua has declined more than any other leopard frog. the frogs are threatened by open-pit copper mine and cattle over grazing and distraction of water springs.
The government denied protection for the frog, Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to list this species as federally endangered in 1998, and after two Center lawsuits, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the frog as threatened
The Center also sued the U.S. Forest Service for failing to monitor and protect habitat and endangered species in Arizona and New Mexico national forests — including the Chiricahua leopard frog — and won that lawsuit in 2015.