Can anyone help me find a long lost news article on bullfrogs?

October 22, 2008 11:23 AM

Did the State of Oregon, the Federal Government, or any local agencies ever stock bullfrogs in ponds and lakes around Oregon? I swear I read a news article online in the last year that said such a thing happened (by ODFW? until the 1990's)?, but I cannot for the life of me find any reference to it or to get to the bottom of bullfrog stocking question.

My first thought was that I read it at http://gazettetimes.com/, but maybe it was at http://registerguard.com/ or http://www.oregonlive.com/. I swear I've looked and looked and looked, but also swear I read it online... It's driving me nuts.

posted by pwb503 to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Sort of a self link but the Statesman Journal has been doing an on-going series on Invasive Species. This article in particular makes reference to fishery officials setting up breeding program.
posted by asterisk at 12:20 PM on October 22, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks asterisk, that's almost it. I do remember reading THAT article, but I also remember reading that the stocking went on into the 80's or 90's so it must not be the article I was thinking of, unless it's been edited...

I probably found it via some RSS feed and thus have no idea which paper I found it in...
posted by pwb503 at 12:53 PM on October 22, 2008

The bullfrog is the larges frog in North America and is native to eastern North America. Bullfrogs were first introduced to Oregon in the 1920s to provide frog legs for the West Coast market. The frog leg industry declined in the 1930s, but the bullfrogs remain. = ODFW

I can find a number of references to high mountain lake trout stocking, discontinued in both Oregon and California almost 20 years ago, affecting native amphibian species, but nothing indicating that bullfrogs or any kind of frog were specifically stocked.
posted by dhartung at 8:47 PM on October 22, 2008