Comment on FR Doc # E9-25883

We submit the references and data posted to our Northern leopard frog website (https://sites.google.com:443/a/westernwatersheds.org/northern-leopard-frogs/files) as support for the need of ESA listing of the Northern leopard frog as threatened or endangered with designated critical habitat and a fully-funded recovery plan for the Western DPS(s). The website allows public downloading and viewing of the scientific information that we have gathered in support of ESA protection for Western populations of Northern leopard frogs. We are particularly alarmed at the continued adverse modifications to habitats critical to the conservation and recovery of leopard frogs posed by the domestic livestock industry including take of egg masses, tadpoles and frogs by livestock and truck used to transport them, public grazing and watering including the destruction of springs, wetlands, riparian areas, and stream habitats crucial to their survival and recovery in the West as well as irrigation diversions (on public and private) and hay and forage production, and winter feedlots that pose continued threats to these disappearing amphibian. ESA protection will also afford Section 7 consultations where the FWS can impose mandatory terms and conditions when take or adverse modification is noted on actions, permits, and funding by Federal agencies including the BLM and FS, which manage much of the West and the remnants of the historic range of the Northern leopard frog. Section 7 consultation and other ESA protections (e.g., Sec 9 take) will enable FWS to conserve and recover populations of Western Northern leopard frogs, especially in light of climate change in the West which is altering aquatic habitats, stream flows, introduced species, and other adverse effects. As the Environmental Baseline for these frogs continues to slip, ESA protection will help mitigate regional habitat and climate changes. Protecting Northern leopard frogs and their critical habitats will conserve other spp