UPSIDE TO DOWNPOURS IS THE SOUND OF 'RIBBIT'.

Byline: Lee B. Kats Local View

THE recent heavy rains which have pounded Southern California are not unlike other tremendous downpours that the plants and animals of the Santa Monica Mountains have experienced numerous times over the last 20,000 years. Nature has seen and dealt with floods before and, for many species, these rains represent opportunities of success that they have not had in recent memory.

Find an oversize mud puddle in Los Angeles or, better yet, find one of our canyon streams, and be prepared to hear decibels of sounds that you have not experienced. As I drive around some of the flooded fields and streams of Los Angeles, I hear choruses of frogs in numbers and with volume louder than I have heard in the last 15 years.

Southern California has few amphibian species to begin with. Our semidesert climate is not hospitable to most frogs, and many species have gone extinct in the last 25 years either because of lost habitat or the spread of exotic invader species that eat or out-compete native frogs.

The heavy rains that we experienced this year will provide new habitats in the flooded streams, pools and ponds unlike we have seen in many years. Also, the invaders which are mostly from the eastern U.S. have no ability to deal with the suddenly fast-flowing streams of Southern California. The majority of those organisms will be washed out to sea leaving mountain streams and ponds free of predators and competitors and primed for local, native frogs to begin vocalizing for mates and breeding.

For the last decade, the news has been nothing but dismal for amphibians and other freshwater inhabitants. Their numbers have declined all around the globe. The causes varied from disease, increased radiation from the sun, habitat loss and global warming. Southern California has been no exception. Our native large frogs have either gone extinct or are hanging on by a tiny thread. California's droughts have not helped the situation, as normally perennial streams have dried in recent years and even more aquatic habitat disappeared.

Maybe 2005 will be the year of the California stream. Boisterous choruses of frogs will not be the only sign.

Just the other week I saw a spectacular but rare gem of the Santa Monica Mountains: a small, delicate ring-necked snake. This juvenile snake had the typical orange band around its neck and its underside was a brilliant orange and crimson. This stream-side snake is dependent on damp areas and flowing streams and, unlike recent past California spring seasons, it will likely have a future as bright as the colors on its underside.

Were the floods inconvenient, costly and even tragic? Absolutely. However, I encourage you to go for a drive on a warm winter or spring evening and listen. The sounds you hear will likely be male Pacific tree frogs shouting with enthusiasm for nearby females.

After all, our pain is sometimes nature's gain.