New York frog vs invasive weed
Filed Under: city living, community, design, environment, event, frogs, health, life, urban critters on January 29, 2010
I’ve been running ragged over the past while, and hadn’t updated my thoughts on this blog…
This morning, an interesting article on an endangered frog in New York was forwarded to me. As usual, it’s the ongoing struggle between saving frogs, and the enjoyment of place for people.
In an effort to rid an invasive water weed, the little northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans) may suffer a setback.
Northern Cricket frog photo courtesy of
New York Natural Heritage Program
Here in part, is the article from the Chronicle newspaper:
Proposed bill aims to get frog off endangered species list
‘Precedent-setting’ move seen as needed to protect water supply
by Pamela Chergotis
Chester — Measuring barely an inch from end to end, the northern cricket frog is the unlikely central character of a controversy raging around its Glenmere Lake habitat.
The frog is on New York’s endangered species list. Glenmere Lake has the honor — or the misfortune, depending on whom you talk to — of having the “best and biggest” population in the state.
Ted Kerpez, the regional wildlife manager for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 3, is a herpetologist and expert on the northern cricket frog. He said it can be found in only about 20 sites in New York, mostly in Orange and Ulster counties. Many more sites existed as recently as 20 years ago, but now the frog is “very endangered” in New York, he said.
*
Nobody really knows why the frog likes Glenmere so much. Kerpez guessed that it was probably just the right mix of pH and temperature combined with a buffer of undeveloped land and an abundance of water lilies, which the frog needs for breeding.
But the frog’s protected status is causing problems for people who have their own uses for the lake. It supplies water to thousands of people in the Village of Florida. It provides a lovely backdrop to a glamorous new resort. It is prized by local residents who picnic on the beach and launch canoes into the placid water.
[…]
please follow this link to read the rest of this article.
___________________________________
And for more information on the Northern cricket frog, please visit the New York Natural Heritage Program website (link here)
