Newly discovered Nevada toad species already under threat Northbound Golden Gate Bridge lanes to close during marathon
Nevada’s new toad species is already on the brink of extinction.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports conservationists are preparing an emergency petition to have the Dixie Valley toad listed as an endangered species to protect it from a proposed geothermal energy project at the edge of its isolated home in Churchill County.
Nevada researchers just identified the Dixie Valley toad, the first new species of toad found anywhere in the U.S. in 50 years.
The toads are about 2 inches long with bumpy skin mottled in green, black and brown.
Their only known habitat is a spring-fed marsh covering just more than 2 square miles of federal land in the remote Dixie Valley, about 400 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
For the first time, northbound lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge will be closed during the San Francisco Marathon because of terrorism concerns.
The Marin Independent Journal reports bridge operators decided to keep motorists out of those lanes between 6 to 9 a.m. Sunday after several terrorist attacks elsewhere occurred where drivers intentionally plowed into pedestrians.
Southbound lanes will be kept open because runners are protected from southbound vehicles by a steel-andconcrete median barrier.
About 4,500 vehicles typically use the northbound lanes during those hours.
Bridge operators say only Golden Gate Transit buses and emergency vehicles can go northbound, but other motorists will have to use alternate bridges to get to Marin and the North Coast. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, more than $15 million has been spent to improve security on the bridge.
— The Associated Press