Like so many other amphibians throughout the world,Rana chiricahuensis populations have steeply declined in recent decades, due to habitat loss and disease. It is listed as Threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

My friend Roger Repp took me to a spot where he had seen these frogs in the past. The frogs were still there, but they are cautious frogs, and I only got brief glimpses of them as they leaped to safety in the stream waters.