2 Adult Northern Leopard Frogs, Courtesy of Shaula Hedwall, USFWS

Northern Leopard Frog Egg Mass, Courtesy of Shaula Hedwall, USFWS

For the last three years, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) staff, have worked to establish a northern leopard frog population in House Rock Valley on the AGFD's wildlife area.  The project has involved collecting egg masses each April from Utah, headstarting the tadpoles at a facility in Flagstaff, and releasing the animals in late summer at three sites in House Rock Valley, Arizona.  On April 8, 2008, we confirmed that these frogs are breeding on their own when 10 egg masses were located at two different sites.  We will continue to supplement these sites with northern leopard frogs as we collected two more egg masses on April 15, 2008, from Utah and are headstarting those animals now.  In addition, we are working with the Bureau of Land Management and Grand Canyon Trust to identify other sites on the Paria Plateau that we may be able to use to for additional populations of northern leopard frogs.