Once widespread in California, red-legged frogs vanished from the Santa Monica Mountains by the 1970s
Nearly 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles, raised by Aquarium of the Pacific biologists, were released into streams in the Santa Monica Mountains, marking a key step in reviving a threatened species. The effort follows an emergency rescue in March 2025, when extreme late-winter storms and wildfires disrupted the frogs’ breeding grounds.
National Park Service (NPS) biologists collected the vulnerable egg masses and transferred them to the Long Beach-based aquarium, where staff successfully hatched and nurtured the tadpoles through spring. This collaboration extends a decade-long initiative to reestablish self-sustaining populations of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act and a state Species of Special Concern.
“We are proud to support the National Park Service in their work to help local frog populations,” said Erin Lundy, the aquarium’s conservation initiatives manager, said in a release. NPS ecologist Katy Delaney, with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, called it “another hopeful chapter” in the species’ recovery, noting challenges overcome with committed partners.
Once widespread in California, red-legged frogs vanished from the Santa Monica Mountains by the 1970s. Reintroduction efforts began in 2014, and this release offers cautious optimism. This summer, NPS will monitor the sites to track the tadpoles’ development into froglets.
