Photo: Dana Shellhorn / USFWS — Public Domain
At-Risk Amphibians in Colorado
Threatened Colorado profiles 3 amphibians. None is federally listed. The Boreal Toad is state endangered; the other two are Colorado species of special concern.
This list includes Colorado state-listed amphibians and Colorado species of special concern.
By Threatened Colorado , Two Colorado natives , About us
Last reviewed , Checked against CPW, USGS sources , Sources (6)
One threat runs through all three. Chytrid fungus is behind the boreal toad's steep decline in the high country, CPW says. A northern leopard frog preserved in Colorado in 1974 tested positive for the fungus, and USFWS called it a possible factor in the frog's losses here, which include its disappearance from Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde national parks. The fungus has also turned up in wood frogs in Rocky Mountain National Park's Kawuneeche Valley (chytrid fungus).
Under CPW's 2026 herpetofauna rules, none of the three may be collected from the wild, and releasing any amphibian is unlawful except as CPW allows. In August 2026 CPW also asked the Parks and Wildlife Commission to consider banning amphibians as fishing bait, warning that bait tiger salamanders and bullfrogs can spread chytrid fungus and ranavirus to native amphibians. The western tiger salamander, Colorado's state amphibian, lives statewide and is the only one of the four amphibians on this site that licensed residents may now collect, in small numbers.
State-listed in Colorado (not federally listed) (1)
Other at-risk species (2)
- Photo: Sam Stukel / USFWS — Public Domain
- Photo: Gary Eslinger / USFWS — Public Domain
Native & Rare amphibians (1)
Not listed as threatened or endangered, and not counted above: native amphibians that are rare or show how their habitat is doing. About Native & Rare
- Photo: Rosa Prasser / NPS — Public Domain
Questions people ask
Where they live
- Rivers, Streams & Wetlands 3 species
- Montane Forest 2 species
- Subalpine Forest 2 species
- Alpine Tundra 1 species
- Shortgrass Prairie 1 species
Sources (6)
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Boreal toad. cpw.state.co.us (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 12-month finding on a petition to list the northern leopard frog in the western United States (Federal Register, 2011). federalregister.gov (opens in a new tab)
- Rittman, Muths & Green, Pseudacris triseriata (western chorus frog) and Rana sylvatica (wood frog) chytridiomycosis, Herpetological Review 34(1):53 (USGS, 2003). pubs.usgs.gov (opens in a new tab)
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Chapter W-7 Herpetofauna (as approved March 4, 2026). cpw.state.co.us (opens in a new tab)
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Chapter W-1 issue paper on amphibians as fishing bait (Commission meeting, September 2026). cpw.state.co.us (opens in a new tab)
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Tiger salamander. cpw.state.co.us (opens in a new tab)