Get to Know a Species: The Leaping Frog of LA County

Get to Know a Species will put the spotlight on local species related to the Malibu Creek watershed. By restoring the ecological resiliency within the watershed, our native habitat will have a more sustainable place to call home in Southern California’s diminishing wild spaces.

This rare amphibian was rebounding in the Santa Monica Mountains through a successful conservation partnership… then there was the Woolsey Fire...

In the fall of 2018, the return of the rare California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) was a successful comeback story to the Santa Monica Mountains where their populations begin to flourish. Then the Woolsey Fire struck in November of that year and ravaged their habitat. The fire burnt 88% of federal parkland, according to the National Park Service. Immediately following the fire was a winter of heavy rainfall, causing debris flows to fill the streams with silt and mud. A goal of the Malibu Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project (MCERP) is to rebuild these special amphibians’ homes!

The California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) was once a common species in Southern California, primarily inhabiting streams and pools that contained water year-round. It is also the famed “leaping frog” that provided the inspiration for Mark Twain’s story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. These smiley-face amphibians are the largest-sized native frog species in the western United States with adult females measuring up to 5.4 inches and the males up to 4.5 inches. 

To spot one within a stream pool, look for a frog’s back with indistinct outlines on a brown, gray, olive or reddish-brown background color, covered with small black flecks and larger irregular dark blotches. A colorful amphibian, they are known for having hind legs (and abdomens) that are often red or salmon pink.

But you might be looking for a long time--these frogs are now among the 14 species in the Santa Monica Mountains on the federal and/or state endangered species list. Habitat degradation and fragmentation caused by Rindge Dam and other barriers along Malibu Creek have impacted these and many of the local native species that rely on canyon streams. Roads and housing between streams in the Santa Monica Mountains also separate the few available creeks in the watershed and isolate populations with fragmented wildlife corridors that prevent genetic diversity and overall stability of the species.

Invasive species are also a factor in the frog’s diminishing populations. “The non-native bullfrog, which is larger than the California red-legged frog, red swamp crayfish, and a deadly chytrid fungus are all considered threats to the species,” said Olivia Beitelspacher, Digital Communications Specialist, Ventura Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 2014, a coordinated partnership effort demonstrated how collaboration can change the course of extinction for endangered species. A group of nine agencies: National Park Service, California State Parks, Ventura Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, California State Coastal Conservancy, and U.S. Geological Survey developed a blueprint how to help the species recover in the Santa Monica Mountains.

A Safe Harbor Agreement was formed to reintroduce the frogs on California State Parks-managed land. Optimal habitats for breeding were identified and egg masses from an adjacent population were relocated into selected pools. The agencies closely monitored the pools annually. In 2017, during a stream survey, NPS reported that researchers discovered nine egg masses laid by frogs– evidence confirming the California red-legged frogs were breeding on their own!

But in November 2018, the massive Woolsey Fire burned 88% of federal parkland, reported the NPS. The following winter heavy rains filled streams with silt and mud. A year later, biologists discovered adult frogs still at the sites that had survived the fire and silt, but with much of the Malibu Creek watershed in the path of the Woolsey fire, most of the frogs’ habitats were severely destroyed.

Restoring natural stream processes for the California red-legged frog as well as the other endangered and native species is one of the many goals of the Malibu Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project. A collaborative team that includes California State Parks, California Trout, McMillen, Inc., Stillwater Sciences, and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains is currently developing the ecological blueprint for removing Rindge Dam and eight upstream barriers within the watershed to reconnect the waterways for all native habitat to survive and flourish in LA’s wildlands.