NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is designating nearly 6,500 acres in Mississippi and Louisiana as critical habitat for the endangered Mississippi gopher frog — the only endangered or threatened frog in the Southeast. About 100 live in the wild, and nearly 900 in zoos.The land includes about 1,540 acres in St. Tammany Parish, La., and in Mississippi, about 3,500 acres of federal land, 264 acres owned by the state and the rest private.

Edward Poitevent, whose family owns most of the Louisiana land, has been fighting the designation. He says he cannot comment until he reads the full notice to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Critical habitat designation requires Fish and Wildlife Service consultation for federal permits.

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