Amargosa toad protection sought

Amphibians in the Mojave Desert are literally few and far between, given the scarcity of water and marshes they can hide in.

One of the most prominent of these critters, the Amargosa toad, again is caught between interests in Nye County to develop public land targeted for sale and efforts by two conservation groups to keep its fragile habitat intact around Beatty, 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

This week, the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Amargosa toad as a threatened or endangered species.

If approved, after a year's review that could follow a 90-day period to weigh the merits of the petition, listing the toad would spoil plans by the Bureau of Land Management to auction off 5,740 acres of public land, including some along a 10-mile stretch of the Amargosa River, the only place on the planet where the toad is found in the wild.

"If the planned sale occurs or other sales of BLM lands along the riparian corridor occur, water extractions, flood control and urban housing developments affecting the Amargosa toad will increase many-fold and will like cause extirpation of some populations and risks causing extinction of the species as a whole in the wild," the 33-page petition reads.

The petition comes nine years after The Nature Conservancy of Nevada led an effort, with help from private donors and a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, to purchase Torrance Ranch, the site of prime habitat for the Amargosa toad north of Beatty. The idea in 1999, and from its inception in 1995, was to protect toad habitat to keep the species off the endangered list.

Jim Moore, Mojave Desert ecologist for The Nature Conservancy of Nevada and director of its Oasis Valley Project, said the new petition "brings us back to square one."

"I was disappointed to see it," Moore said Wednesday. "I'm concerned about the reaction from the town of Beatty and Nye County. I am always concerned about the impact a listing has on private land owners and less concerned about how a listing impacts public land owners."

On the other hand, Moore said, "the threat of a listing should remind everybody the problem hasn't gone away."

"We need to be vigilant in adhering to the commitments we made in the 2000 agreement," he said referring to a conservation pact forged by the Amargosa Toad Working Group, a consortium of town, state, county, federal and university representatives.

"The proposal to sell off all that acreage ... and continue vehicle races around that habitat are legitimate concerns raised by that petition."

In addition, Moore noted that part of the toad's landscape changed hands three times with the sale of a brothel property on the outskirts of Beatty. A previous owner in 1999 had agreed to preserve a spring where toads live. The property is up for sale again, and what will happen with the spring under new owners remains to be seen, Moore said.

A BLM spokeswoman said none of the acreage in question has been put up for sale yet.

The BLM's state wildlife program leader, Elroy Masters, said a resource management plan identifies lands for disposal but excludes toad habitat. "We're not going to take any action that will lead to listing of the toad," he said.

But ecologist Daniel Patterson of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is not convinced federal agencies are looking out for the remaining Amargosa toads. The population stands at about 2,000, counted two years ago. That estimate doesn't include an unknown number that weren't tagged.

Patterson said he hopes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "will sit down and give the petition an honest read" while weighing its merits over the next three months.

Bob Williams, the service's field supervisor for Nevada, said, "I think the petition is unfortunate, if you look at the efforts we've been undertaking. The partnership is strong and is designed to work in a cooperative manner not to have the species listed. That's still the common goal of the parties."

Nevertheless, Williams said, "Things have changed in terms of the landscape. It's a good opportunity to take a good hard review."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0308.