Mountain yellow-legged frog restoration project, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, 2001-2003
The SEKI mountain yellow-legged frog restoration project was initiated in 2001, after research showed 1) that introduced trout are a primary factor in the decline of the species and 2) that frog populations can be restored by eradicating introduced trout populations located near frog reproduction sites. Introduced trout were removed from six lakes using gill nets and from adjacent streams using a backpack electrofisher. Frog surveys were conducted several times per season in all restoration lakes, as well as in fish-containing control lakes and fishless target lakes. From 2001 to 2004, we removed 8,418 introduced trout and eradicated or virtually eradicated trout in all six lakes. As a result, the average number of mountain yellow-legged frog individuals detected per survey per year in all six restoration lakes combined increased from 58 in 2001 to 2,387 in 2004!
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