All over America, National Parks (and other wildland areas) are playing an important role in bringing back long-gone species. Last Friday, a group of 142 Threatened Red-Legged Frogs were released in Yosemite Valley. They joined a grouping that was released there a year ago. One of the other most notable programs to bring back a species took place in Yellowstone National Park….with the return of the gray wolves there…..and another such program has returned California Condors to both Pinnacles National Park, and the Ventana Wilderness. Less iconic creatures are also said to be ‘coming back from the brink of extinction’: Pacific Fishers in Mount Rainier in the North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks in Washington; Black-Footed Ferrets in Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks, South Dakota; Nēnē Geese in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park….and Desert Pupfish in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. Hopefully up next are the Yellow-Legged Frog, Yosemite Toad, and Western Pond Turtle.
