Group demands dam changes on Deschutes to protect spotted frog
Dams targeted in spotted frog fight
A conservation group demands a change in operations at two irrigation dams on the upper Deschutes River to protect the Oregon spotted frog, a threatened species.
Center for Biological Diversity announced Tuesday it has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The notice says the bureau draws down the water from Crane Prairie and Wickiup reservoirs too quickly in the spring, stranding frog egg masses upstream of the dams and flooding frog habitat downstream.
The frog was once common from British Columbia to Northern California but is now found on about 10 percent of its range, mostly east of the Cascades.
Douglas DeFlitch, field office manager for the bureau in Bend, says his office has not seen the notice yet but it is working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and irrigators on a conservation plan for the frog.
— From wire reports