For Immediate Release: March 19, 2001

Contacts:
Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Associates, 307-742-7978
Jacob Smith, Center for Native Ecosystems, 303-810-6017
Rocky Smith, Colorado Wild, 970-385-9833

Denver, Colorado – A coalition of conservation groups yesterday formally notified the Fish and Wildlife Service of their intent to sue if the Service refuses to list the Southern Rockies population of boreal toad (Bufo boreas boreas) under the Endangered Species Act. Although the Service considers the boreal toad to be an extremely high priority for listing, after seven years on the "candidate" list it is still without the protection of Act. The coalition claims the Service has both failed to list the boreal toad and failed to explain its reasoning for not doing so in previous years, as it is required to do. The coalition, represented by attorney Matt Kenna of the Durango firm Kenna and Hickcox, includes Center for Native Ecosystems, Biodiversity Associates, Colorado Wild, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and Forest Guardians.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service has been dragging its feet for seven years. At this rate the boreal toad could become extinct long before the Fish and Wildlife Service gets around to protecting it," explained Jacob Smith, Executive Director of Center for Native Ecosystems. "Filing a lawsuit is really our last resort."

"While we appreciate all the effort that has gone into studying the boreal toad, we are concerned that we are just researching its extinction rather than saving it," stated Rocky Smith, Forest Watch Coordinator for Colorado Wild. The Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Division of Wildlife have conducted substantial research on the boreal toad, its habitat needs, and causes for decline, but tangible conservation efforts have been limited, and even the Fish and Wildlife Service concedes that all remaining habitat should be protected.

The boreal toad is designated by the Fish and Wildlife Service as a "Candidate" species, which resulted from the Service’s finding that Endangered Species Act listing was "warranted but precluded." This finding means the Service concluded that the boreal toad is imperiled enough to warrant an Endangered Species Act listing as "threatened" or "endangered" but that listing should be postponed due to higher priority listing actions. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued its original "warranted but precluded" finding for the boreal toad in 1995, after receiving a citizen petition to list the species in 1993. Colorado currently lists the boreal toad as an "endangered" species. Although this confers no legal protection, it also underscores the precariousness of the toad’s future.

"The failure of the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the boreal toad highlights its unwillingness to protect any species unless forced to do so through citizen lawsuits," said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist for Biodiversity Associates. "The Service blames citizen lawsuits for its failure to protect endangered plants and wildlife, but citizens wouldn’t have to sue if the agency followed the law in the first place."

The boreal toad was once common in the Southern Rocky Mountains but has experienced dramatic declines in the past two decades. It faces extinction due to disease (specifically a species of chytrid fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatitis), habitat disturbance, and possibly other factors such as acidification and heavy metal pollution of high-elevation water sources. The toad, a 3-4 inch long amphibian, lives in marshes, wet meadows, and near streams, ponds, and lakes from 8,000 -11,000 feet in elevation.

Center for Native Ecosystems is a Colorado-based non-profit organization working to conserve and recover native wildlife and their habitat across the Greater Southern Rockies and Plains. Biodiversity Associates, based in Laramie, Wyoming, works to protect and restore biological diversity, habitat for wildlife and fish, rare plants, and roadless lands in Wyoming and surrounding states. Colorado Wild was formed in 1998 as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the forested ecosystems of Colorado and the native wildlife habitat and animals and plants found there. Biodiversity Legal Foundation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of all native wild plants and animals, communities of species, and naturally functioning ecosystems. Forest Guardians is a New Mexico-based non-profit organization working to preserve and restore native wildlands and wildlife in the American Southwest.