Nevada
Endangered Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frogs Are Making a Comeback
/https%3A%2F%2Ftf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffiler_public%2F41%2F93%2F4193f623-6009-4c63-a17d-c5f384754adc%2Frasiadult_70158-20.jpg?ssl=1 "Endangered Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frogs Are Making a Comeback")
Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are rebounding from near-extinction in California.
University of California Santa Barbara
After nearly disappearing for good, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are once again hopping happily around California’s alpine lakes.
Scientists are celebrating the comeback of the amphibians (Rana sierrae) in Yosemite National Park. Though they’re still endangered, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs have made a “remarkably successful” recovery from the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus, researchers report this month in the journal Nature Communications.
“The lakes are alive again, completely transformed,” says study co-author Roland Knapp, a biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to USA Today’s Elizabeth Weise. “You literally can look down the shoreline and see 50 frogs on one side and 50 on the other and in the water you see 100 to 1,000 tadpoles. It’s a completely different lake.”
Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are small creatures measuring 1.5 to 3.75 inches long, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They live high in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, at elevations between 4,500 and 12,000 feet above sea level. The frogs inhabit marshes, ponds, lakes and streams, where they feast on bugs and other amphibians. They also serve as a source of food for birds, snakes, coyotes and bears.
Dozens of frogs are now visible along the shores of some alpine lakes in the Eastern Sierra.
Roland Knapp
Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs tend to have yellowish-orange bellies and dark, splotchy backs, but their coloring can vary widely—from greenish-brown to gray to red. They don’t have vocal sacks, so instead the frogs grind their teeth together underwater when trying to attract mates in the spring.
The frogs were once abundant throughout the Sierra Nevada. But, after the arrival of European settlers in the mid-19th century during the California gold rush, their numbers began to dwindle.
In addition to gold, miners also discovered more than 1,500 alpine lakes in California. The lakes were beautiful, but they were lacking in fish—so the miners began stocking them. The introduction of non-native species—including rainbow trout, grayling and Atlantic salmon—decimated the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs.
Stocking ended in the 1990s, but even without help from humans, the non-native fish continued to reproduce and thrive. Then, in the early 2000s, the few surviving frogs in the Sierra Nevada faced yet another threat: the amphibian chytrid fungus.
The highly contagious fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) causes chytridiomycosis, an infectious skin disease that has caused mass die-offs and extinctions among amphibians around the world. In 2014, with their populations crashing, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs were added to the endangered species list.
But then scientists noticed something peculiar: In some places, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog numbers were increasing. It appeared that at least some of the small creatures—particularly those living in lakes without any non-native fish—had developed a resistance to the fungus.
Scientists carefully transported frogs that appeared to be resistant to the fungus to other lakes.
Roland Knapp
“The frogs that survive better have certain variations in their genomes,” says Erica Bree Rosenblum, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, to ScienceNews’ Martin J. Kernan. “Since they’re the ones surviving, they’re passing their genes down, and over time the whole population is changing toward having these more favorable genetic mutations.”
Researchers decided to implement an ambitious plan to save the species. Starting in 2006, they began gathering up the fungus-resistant survivors and re-introducing them to other alpine lakes without fish.
Now, nearly two decades later, scientists say their plan worked. These Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog populations are now mostly self-sustaining and have “a low probability of extinction over 50 years,” they write in the paper. They hope the successful reintroduction of Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs might serve as a source of inspiration for scientists working to save other species battling new diseases.
“These frogs have somehow figured out how to exist, even thrive in the face of this pathogen,” Knapp tells the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kurtis Alexander. “When I saw these frog populations recovering on their own, that was the first time in 15 years working on this species that I felt a glimmer of hope.”
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The defending 5A state champion Centennial Bulldogs (7-3) open conference play with a challenging road test Wednesday night when they travel to Henderson to face the Liberty Patriots (10-7) in a Nevada 5A Southern basketball clash.
Coach Karen Weitz’s Bulldogs, seeking their second consecutive state title, will rely on their formidable frontcourt duo of forwards Nation Williams and Inieye Oruh, complemented by standout guard Sanai Branch. They will face a Patriots squad that has shown marked improvement under head coach Lorenzo Jarvis, powered by senior leaders Samantha Chesnut and Kiana Harworth alongside junior standout Neviah Nick.
With Liberty’s home court advantage potentially neutralizing Centennial’s championship pedigree, this early conference matchup could set the tone for both teams’ title aspirations in the competitive 5A Southern division.
Opening tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, January 7 with a live TV broadcast on NFHS Network.
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What: Defending champ Centennial faces resurgent Liberty in 5A Southern showdown
When: Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, January 7
Where: Liberty High School | Henderson, Nevada
Watch live: Watch Centennial vs. Liberty live on the NFHS Network
Nevada
Tahoe man loses $20K at Nevada casino and threatens to bomb facility before arrest, police say
Home prices in Southern Nevada dropped from record highs to end 2025 and less homes sold last year compared with 2024.
Approximately 28,498 existing homes sold in the region last year, which is down almost 9 percent from the 31,305 homes that sold in 2024, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls its data from the Multiple Listing Service. This is the lowest number of homes sold in a year in Southern Nevada since 2007 right before the Great Recession.
The median sale price for a house sold in Southern Nevada in December was approximately $470,000, a 3.9 percent drop from November, according to LVR. By the end of December, LVR reported 6,396 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 28.8 percent from one year earlier.
Despite a down year in sales, the local market did end on a high note.
George Kypreos, president of Las Vegas Realtors, said he is optimistic the housing market could turn around this year. The LVR report noted that home sales in Southern Nevada have seen “peaks and valleys” in recent years, generally declining since 2021 when a record 50,010 properties sold.
“Although it was a relatively slow year for home sales, we’re seeing some encouraging signs heading into the new year,” said Kypreos in a statement. “Buyer activity locally and nationally is starting to improve. Home prices have been fairly stable, and mortgage interest rates ended the year lower than they were the previous year. Most trends are pointing to a more balanced housing market in 2026.”
Freddie Mac currently has the average price for a 30-year fixed-term mortgage rate at 6.1 percent. That mortgage rate has not gone below 6 percent since 2022.
The all-time high median home sale price in Southern Nevada was broken multiple times last year, and currently sits at $488,995 which was last set in November while the condo and townhome market has dropped substantially from an all-time high that was set in October of 2024 ($315,000) to $275,000 to end 2025.
Major residential real estate brokerages are mixed as to where the market will head this year as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com have all put out their 2026 projections, and they expect a similar market to 2025. Mortgage rates aren’t expected to drop enough next year to unlock the country’s housing market, new builds will continue to lag, and prices will remain relatively elevated.
Realtor.com said in its report that it predicts a “steadier” housing market next year and a slight shift to a more balanced market. Redfin’s report says 2026 will be the year of the “great housing reset,” which means the start of a yearslong period of “gradual increases in home sales and normalization of prices as affordability gradually improves.”
Finally, Zillow said the housing market should “warm up” in 2026 with “buyers seeing a bit more breathing room and sellers benefiting from price stability and more consistent demand.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
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