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Wonderful Wildwife: The Boreal Toad (Bufo boreas boreas)

Boreal toads were once common throughout much of the high
elevations in Colorado and in the Sierra Madre, Medicine Bow,
and southern Laramie Mountains of southeast Wyoming. In a recent
study, boreal toads were found at only three localities at the
southern periphery of their range in the San Juan Mountains of
New Mexico: Lagunitas, Canjilon and Trout Lakes. Altitudinal
distribution ranges from 2,300 meters (7,500 feet) to
approximately 3,700 meters (12,000 feet).

Declines in boreal toad demes (a small group or population of
organisms that interbreed) were first documented in New Mexico
in 1984, in Colorado in 1974, and in southern Wyoming in 1986.
Boreal toads are now extirpated from the three known historic
sites in New Mexico.

Biologists have found that boreal toadswere absent from 83 percent of locations in Colorado and Wyoming previously known to contain them. Recent surveys revealedseveral previously unknown locations and extant historical locations of
nonbreeding individuals and several breeding sites; but survey
data indicated that boreal toads are absent from approximately
96 percent of localities that contained known historical records of
suitable habitat.

Physical and climatic conditions separate the southern Rocky
Mountain population of the boreal toad from populations in
western Wyoming and northeastern Utah. Because of this
geographic
isolation, it is believed that the southern Rocky Mountain
population of the boreal toad can be considered a distinct
vertebrate population.

The boreal toad is threatened by the destruction, modification,
or curtailment of its habitat and range. The southern Rocky
Mountain population of the boreal toad is found primarily on
public land within State forests, national forests, and lands
administered by the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land
Management, and National Park Service. The use of these lands
ranges from recreational to intensive timber and grazing
management and watershed alteration activities. Activities that
destroy, modify, or curtail habitat are likely to contribute to
the continued decline in toad numbers; however, researchers do
not believe that recreational or habitat management activities
brought about the current decline.

The immediate cause of the widespread decline of boreal toads in
northern New Mexico and west-central Colorado was thought to be
a
result of infection by Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria (red-leg
disease). However, A. hydrophila is common in the microfauna
carried by amphibians, and it does not cause infection or death
in healthy individuals. Most likely then, toads that were
stressed by adverse environmental factors, such as acid rain,
pollution, or increased ultraviolet radiation, later succumbed
to
A. hydrophila infection. Competition and predation by native and
nonnative species occurs but is probably a minor impact.

The boreal toad is listed as endangered by Colorado and New
Mexico and is a nongame animal in Wyoming. The Colorado Division
of Wildlife has formed a recovery team and is in the final
stages
of preparing a State recovery plan.

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