Volunteers sought for amphibian survey | Outside - Stowe Today

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If you’re willing go out in the rain and maybe get your hands a little sticky, volunteers are needed to count — and sometimes rescue — amphibians as they cross the road during mating season.

The Duxbury Conservation Commission is working with the North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier, lining up people who, during certain evenings as the weather allows, will join their effort to survey the migration patterns of the many amphibians that are native to the state, such as frogs, salamanders and spring peepers.

And, as much as possible, the volunteers protect the creepers.

“We pair people up with sites near them, we train them up, and we offer them online resources,” said Zac Cota, AmeriCorps teacher naturalist with the North Branch Nature Center.

Teams are being assigned to multiple locations on Route 100 in Waterbury and Stowe, and to less trafficked roads such as Kneeland Flats and Perry Hill roads in Waterbury, Stowe Hollow Road in Stowe and River Road in Duxbury.

The goal, Cota said, is provide information to measure the health of the state’s amphibian populations, and gather data on where they cross the road.

The data is shared with the Agency of Transportation, with the goal of installing crossing tunnels under a road when there is new construction, said Steve Parren, wildlife diversity program manager for Vermont Fish and Wildlife.

“Where I live in Monkton, we actually built tunnels under the roads for salamanders and frogs because so many were being killed,” Parren said.

Ideal conditions for surveying amphibians: Rainy nights with temperatures in the high 30s or low 40s. Under those conditions, water will permeate the ground and awaken the slumbering amphibian, which will make its way to a nearby pond or vernal pool to reproduce.

“Some of these pools have been used for thousands of years, for generations and generations,” Parren said.

So, why does the amphibian cross the road?

“It’s not that they want to cross the road. It’s that there’s a road between where they are and where they need to go,” Parren said.

The crossings always occur at night because amphibians risk drying out in the sun, Parren said. “Some, like the Jefferson salamander, they return to the woods, so they end up crossing the road twice.”

Other amphibians will mate and spawn in a vernal pool, enjoying the lack of predators.

With flashlights and clipboards —and an eye toward oncoming traffic — volunteers count the frogs, salamanders and peepers as they follow their biological urges, and if a volunteer wants to pick one up and help it to the other side, well, that’s great, too.

“It’s actually a bit tricky to catch a hopping frog,” Cota said. “With a salamander, you might want to use a cup because some salamanders excrete a sticky substance as a defense mechanism.”

The North Branch Nature Center is partnering with numerous environmental groups on these efforts.

“I live on Blush Hill and we haven’t had a warm enough night, but we have wood frogs and my guess is we’ll be hearing some wood frogs this week,” said Allen Thompson, chairman of the Waterbury Conservation Commission. “This is not something you can set your calendar to. You have to watch for those warm nights.”

“It’s definitely been a later season than usual, but winter has been holding on,” Cota said. “Last year, we had crossings the first week in April.”

In short, there’s still time to volunteer. For more information, visit tiny.cc/w7184y.



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