Environmental group ends suit over land for endangered 'snoring' frog

An environmental group is dropping its legal fight over critical habitat for an endangered frog, with a settlement now proposed in the case, but the group also says the story isn't over. "It might not be 'that's it,' but it is for now. The decision will go back to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," said Collette Giese, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. Dusky gopher frogs once were found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. They're now in the wild only in a few small parts of Mississippi, but the government designated 1,500 acres (610 hectares) in Louisiana as critical habitat for them. The decision to drop that tract from the government's critical habitat list cannot be considered as a precedent for any future court case, according to a proposed settlement made public Monday in federal court. It needs the judge's approval to become final. The agency could return the critical habitat designation after more scientific and public comment, Giese said. The frogs are dark, warty amphibians that make a snoring noise instead of a croak and put their forefeet over their eyes when picked up. They breed in ponds so shallow they dry up in the summer, limiting potential predators. Scientists say the land in St. Tammany Parish has five such ponds within hopping distance, while those that the animals once used in Alabama all are overgrown or developed. Environmentalists had backed the designation as a needed environmental protection. Opponents, including multiple landowners, called it an unjust land grab by an overreaching bureaucracy...MORE