Mississippi Gopher Frog may have new protection

When the Gulf Restoration Network and Center for Biological Diversity threatened legal action earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepped forward with a proposal to save the Mississippi Gopher Frog, to the tune of around $100,000. From the Associated Press:

Most of the land is owned by the federal government; 96 acres are owned by the state and 470 acres are privately owned. Mississippi gopher frogs once lived in longleaf pine forests from western Alabama to southeast Louisiana. Timbering all but eradicated those forests. They now live in only a few spots in south Mississippi. Scientists believe fewer than 100 mature adults live in the wild. Five zoos — in Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami and Omaha, Nebraska — have been breeding or raising them.

If this impacts you, the agency is taking comments until January 11, 2011.