Gafoto wrote:

A5RP wrote:

Gafoto wrote:A lot of the alpine lakes have been gill netted. Upper Horton was done recently. Most of the lakes out of Onion Valley were also done and the frog populations have rebounded. I think the more popular fishing lakes will continue to stay stocked or at least not netted.

Isn't that so intelligently human .... terminate "KILL" thousands of several species in order to save one.

Well, it's more mistake correction than anything. People purposely introduced a species into the lakes and now we're taking it back out. I agree it's a little odd to be simultaneously gill netting some lakes and stocking others.

To set the record straight on the subject of re-establishing native frogs (Mountain Yellow Legged Frog) in Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP:

1) No fish are being eliminated from lakes/streams outside of the park boundaries (Sequoia and Kings Canyon... SEKI), which means Onion Valley is not being "done" (Onion Valley is part of the Inyo National Forest which falls under a different set of rules and regulations).
2) Of the waters where fish have been or will be eliminated, they will amount to no more than 10% of the lakes and streams within SEKI.
3) No lakes and streams are currently being restocked within SEKI. The policy to stop restocking non-native fish in national parks began in 1972 and completely ceased several years ago.
4) Non-native fish are effecting a decline in biodiversity. Removing non-native fish is an effort to restore biodiversity. In other words, one or two misplaced species are being exterminated in an effort to save many (this is not just about frogs, frogs are more specifically the "canary in the coal mine").

I hope these facts help, the issue is complicated and strife with misinformation. No one is certain if these efforts to re-establish biodiversity will be met with success. There are other variables to contend with such as climate change and poorly understood fungal infections. The focus of our National Park Service is to preserve these places for future generations, and while tangled in an often dysfunctional bureaucracy, without the NPS these pristine places would be far worse off today than otherwise.