From: Klas Strandberg <>
>
> Todays headlines in Sweden are "Frogs Towards Extinction" and is based on=
a
> report by
> Global Amphibian Assessment, saying that 1/3 of all frogs - all over the=
> globe - is dying without an explanation.
> Comments Walt - others?
What it turns out is there are a whole galaxy of explanations. The world
wants one explanation, it does not work that way. There has been
considerable work and most causes are now known.
Yes, in some cases those who are pushing this attitude are right, some
of the causes are humanity and it's effects. Primarily our ever
increasing population crowding them out. But in other cases it's
natural, like the fungus infections in the midwest. Probably carried by
the prevailing winds from asia.
And, of course, as the rain forests go so do the frogs that are
specialized in them. Or in the US the courts ruled that the wetlands
protection only applied to wetlands that had a recognized stream flowing
through them. There was a huge push to fill wetlands before the law was
fixed (it's still not fixed). We lost a large percentage of our wetlands
in just the last few years with that one decision. It might not have
happened this way if the environmentalists had not been so eager to ruin
folks who owned wetlands. The wetlands paid a heavy price for the
arrogance of environmental activists.
Here in Georgia, except for a few species with specialized habitat
requirements frogs are doing just fine thank you. In fact, on paper they
have expanded their range considerably, thanks to efforts by myself and
others to actually map their range. Not that there are not setbacks here
and there.
If anything there is far too much misinformed propaganda. We have to
take off the hair shirts and quit the floggings and start doing some
real thinking and planning. It's time to end the blame game and get into
the fix game. I don't see that from the environmental activists, real
solutions that make sense and can be sold to the rest of the public. Why
I almost hate to admit I'm a trained ecologist.
Incidentally, many herp surveys are done by folks that work only 9-5.
Not a good way to find out about frogs. And those surveys are what the
headlines are based on.
Walt
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