Posted by Graduate Research Associate Liesl Plomski
Cedar Creek Correction Center kicked off their 2010 Oregon spotted frog rearing season in late March. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife delivered around 80 larvae from the Black River in Thurston County to the Prison. Since then the frogs have been moved from 6-quart containers indoors to a 300-gallon tank outside. Many of the tadpoles have begun metamorphoses and are developing front legs. They are developing much faster than last year. The inmates prepare a “Popeye” food mash of romaine lettuce, kale, and spirulina to feed to the tadpoles four times a day. We’re impressed by how quickly the frogs are growing and maturing; so far things are on track to match the success of the 2009 season.
Posted by Graduate Research Associate Liesl Plomski
This April, Cedar Creek Correction Center was awarded a $4,375 grant from the Oregon Zoo Foundation to expand the Oregon spotted frog captive rearing program at the prison. This is the first time the grant has ever been awarded to the Department of Corrections, or to an institution that is not solely dedicated to scientific research. This will allow the prison to expand from the current capacity of 75 frogs to a future capacity of 300 frogs. Right now the project buys thousands of crickets which are shipped from Alabama – this grant will also help expand the cricket rearing area, which was started with $500 from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Crickets are the main diet of captive reared Oregon spotted frogs after their complete metamorphoses (from larvae to early adult-hood).
In its first year of the project, Cedar Creek Correction Center reared 67 of 78 larvae to adulthood. They hope to use these funds to increase the number of frogs release back into the wild in the 2011 rearing season.
In September more than 100 offenders, correctional staff and guest scientists participated in the annual health conference at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). Titled “The Mind, the Spirit, the Environment Maintained Equals a Healthy Body Sustained,” the two-day gathering featured a fitness instructor, inspirational speaker, poet, chaplain and two faculty members from The Evergreen State College. Imagine the scene as we all committed to healthier lives through laughter, tears and even aerobics!
Dr. Frances Solomon, a toxicologist and visiting professor at The Evergreen State College, teaches inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women during the prison's annual health conference. Photo: Jeff Muse.
Led by Evergreen professor and forest ecologist Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, the second day kicked off with a multimedia presentation on the role of science in our lives, the importance of trees and emerging green-collar jobs. Dr. Nadkarni also announced our hope to initiate a butterfly-rearing project with the prison’s horticultural program and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Next up, toxicologist and watershed specialist Dr. Frances Solomon discussed the impact of toxic chemicals on the environment and human health, including illnesses such as breast cancer. Afterward, offenders were given the microphone to ask questions and express thanks during an insightful and heart-warming feedback session.
Offender feedback through surveys and interviews is essential to the Sustainable Prisons Project. Photo: Jeff Muse.
In my experience, WCCW is quite different from the men’s prisons in which most of our work takes place. Though it’s heavily secured, a gentler, family-like atmosphere pervades the facility. We hope that we honored that character and linked inmates to the world outside the fence where many have parents, siblings and children rooting for them to succeed.
Interacting with inmates and correctional staff as well as extensive survey feedback gave us a good direction for future activities. Our next presentation, led by yours truly, will be “Sustainability 101” in early December. Afterward, we’ll help the prison adopt goals and strategies for lessening its impact on the environment while improving the health of everyone who lives and works there.
In the summer of 2009, more than a dozen offenders at the Cedar Creek and Stafford Creek corrections learned skills in beekeeping. Led by Evergreen scientist Sam Hapke and correctional staffers Vicki Briggs and Doug Raines, our part-time program involved both classroom study and outdoor work with hives in each prison.
While working in the garden, a Stafford Creek inmate cares for the prison's beehives as part of a training program led by Evergreen scientist Sam Hapke. Photo: Doug Raines.
Offenders learned about bee biology and behavior, hive construction and maintenance, beekeeping equipment and commercial business practices — profitable skills for a post-prison career, be it in honey and beeswax production or pollinating fruits and vegetables in orchards and farms.
After collecting honey from the prison's beehives, Stafford Creek offenders learn how to create products such as lip balm and hand lotion. Photo: Doug Raines.
Under Hapke’s guidance, next year we hope to design and conduct inmate-led research projects with publishable results, not only advancing science, but also modeling this training program for other institutions. Often located in rural areas, prisons are uniquely positioned to support the pollination of wild and commercial plants while helping scientists study the alarming threat of bee colony collapse.
A Stafford Creek inmate learns how to use a microscope for biological study. Photo: Doug Raines.
Comprising what we call the “OSF community,” our frog-farming comrades have missions dedicated to wildlife conservation and talented staff who consult our team on many occasions. We simply couldn’t succeed without their insightful guidance, typically shared on line with Cedar Creek staff member Marko Anderson, who then relays feedback to Harry and Al inside the prison.
An Oregon spotted frog raised by offenders at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center. Photo: Melanie Colombo.
As of August 18, Cedar Creek has 68 fat, healthy frogs destined for wetlands in Fort Lewis next month. Since early April, when WDFW scientist Marc Hayes delivered 80 eggs in tiny yogurt tubs, only 12 frogs have died. A careful balance of food, heat, clean water and loving care has resulted in an excellent 85% rate of survivorship – more than ten times the average outcome in the wild.
For an endangered species teetering on the edge of extinction, that’s good news. Soon, Cedar Creek’s frogs will join those from other rearing institutions in their new home at Fort Lewis. Like everyone involved in this effort, Harry and Al are proud to help amphibian diversity sustain its foothold in the Pacific Northwest.
