Two conservation groups seek to protect the critically endangered Mississippi gopher frog's last confirmed breeding pond from encroaching development.
The frog is on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species list.
About 100 frogs are thought to exist, and their survival depends on the pond in the DeSoto National Forest in Harrison County.
There are efforts to create additional breeding ponds for the frog. The Nature Conservancy was developing three breeding ponds on a 2,000-acre site in Jackson County last year.
The Gulf Restoration Network and Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday announced during a news conference at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in Gulfport its intention to sue the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the state of Mississippi.
Casey DeMoss Roberts of the Gulf Restoration Network said the 60-day notice is required under the Endangered Species Act. The notice is intended to give agencies time to resolve the issue.
"The reason we are doing this is they really haven't done a sufficient job of protecting the breeding pond known as Glen's Pond," Roberts said.
The pond is on Forest Service land south of Tradition, a 4,800-acre development north of Biloxi and Gulfport.
"It's a really nice development with beautiful homes," Roberts said. "They've got lots of trees and biking. I think their intention is good. We are not convinced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did a good job by the development in protecting the frog in giving them enough buffer zone."
Roberts said the frog was listed as endangered in 2001, but the Fish and Wildlife Service did not designate critical habitat for the frog at the time.
Roberts said a sewage treatment plant is planned close to the development and near the frog pond.
"It would be just so easy to create a larger buffer zone around the pond," she said.
The frogs are about 3 inches long, with back color ranging from black to brown or gray and covered with dark spots and warts. The frog's range once included nine parishes in Louisiana's lower coastal plain, east of the Mississippi River to the Mobile River in Alabama's delta.