Thanks to city for help saving amphibians, by Brett Amy Thelen - The Keene Sentinel

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Every year, on the first warm, rainy nights of spring, thousands of amphibians migrate to vernal pools and other wetlands to breed. Many are killed when they must cross roads. To reduce amphibian roadkill, the Harris Center for Conservation Education coordinates volunteer “Salamander Crossing Brigades,” who move migrating amphibians across roads by hand, keeping count as they go.

Since 2007, we’ve trained over 1,150 volunteers, who have helped an astonishing 47,385 amphibians survive the most dangerous journey of their lives. Many of our volunteers return, like the salamanders, year after year. We cannot thank them enough.

This spring, for the second year in a row, the Harris Center also worked with the City of Keene to close the North Lincoln Street amphibian crossing site to vehicle traffic on migration nights. In 2019, these road closures facilitated the safe passage of 1,592 amphibians, including 975 spring peepers, 509 wood frogs and 58 spotted salamanders. It’s important to note these numbers are underestimates, likely significantly so, because so much of this year’s rain occurred after midnight — long after our volunteers had gone home for the night, but while the road was still closed to traffic. With that many frogs on the road, even just a few passing cars could have done incredible damage.

On any given night, up to 50 people also came to North Lincoln Street to see the amphibians, including dozens of families with young children who’d never experienced the migration before. Over and over, they marveled at the spectacle taking place in their backyards. Over and over, they expressed gratitude that the City had provided safe passage for the amphibians and a safe place for children to witness the magic of the migration. One mom wrote us to say, “It’s all amphibians all the time in our house now. … Thank you so much for taking care of the tiniest creatures while teaching the kids to do the same. It’s just incredible.”

To our knowledge, Keene is the only community in New Hampshire that institutes temporary road closures for the protection of migrating amphibians and the people who care about them. The Harris Center is proud to have worked with the city on this project, and we thank them for their leadership.

BRETT AMY THELEN

Science Director

Harris Center for Conservation Education

83 King’s Highway



http://bit.ly/2JDwb7H

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