Judge Overturns Frog Habitat Plan
A federal district judge is reversing a U.S. Fish and Wildlife plan to designate more than 4 million acres as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog.
The service will have to re-evaluate a plan developers successfully challenged as flawed.
The once widespread amphibian is believed to have inspired Mark Twain´s short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
Developers challenged restrictions that would have covered parts of 28 of the state´s 58 counties – from Tehama and Plumas counties in the north to the Mexican border.
The decision leaves in place protections on 200,000 acres where the frog currently exists.