Annual Oregon spotted frog release!
By Graduate Research Associate Sarah Weber
On a crisp fall day at the end of October, participating Oregon spotted frog (OSF) rearing partners gathered for the annual frog release at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM). The OSF, received by each institution in egg form, are reared from March to October when they are released as healthy juvenile and adult frogs onto three wetland sites located at JBLM. This is a fun day that all the partners look forward to each year.
The Sustainable Prison Project frogs were transported from Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC) in ten shoebox-sized Tupperware containers lined with wet paper towels. Upon arrival, the containers were taken to the waters edge where lids were removed. Some frogs were anxious to get out and immediately jumped onto the shore and into the water, while some needed a bit more time and coaxing. Once in the water, the frogs quickly camouflaged themselves by digging into the sandy bottom or swimming into marshy vegetation. The water in the wetland is cool, but open and exposed to sunlight, with nice shallow areas along the banks. OSF are highly aquatic and leave the water only for short periods of time to forage for food. They move between ponds via connecting waterways, making them especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. The wetlands at JBLM offer a large undisturbed habitat with many channels for migration and shallow warm water for breeding in the spring.
This year, we released 163 healthy, large adult OSF raised at CCCC. The frog technician inmates, as always, did a wonderful job rearing our captive population. It is not always possible to raise each frog to releasable size, and each year SPP takes all undersized frogs from our rearing partner facilities, and supports them through the winter at CCCC. This year we received more than 60 frogs to over-winter. The inmates will raise them until springtime when they will also be released on the wetlands at JBLM.
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- SPP Research Associate Sarah Weber holding OSF before release
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- Release site at Joint Base Lewis McChord
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- Oregon spotted frogs ready for their new habitat
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- SPP Project Manager Kelli Bush releasing OSF
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- SPP Research Associate Dennis Aubrey showing off the proper release technique
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- CCCC Superintendent Doug Cole releasing OSF
To donate to SPP and help Oregon spotted frog conservation in Washington state, click here.
2 Comments:
Kate
This is amazing! How many frogs total were released?
Dennis Aubrey
Hi Kate. Thanks for your interest. A total of 1266 frogs were released, from four rearing institutions: Woodland Park Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Northwest Trek, and Cedar Creek Corrections Center. Our frogs from Cedar Creek are always the biggest (you can see the typical release size of an OSF in the picture of me – the frog I am holding is from Woodland Park Zoo). While we raise the biggest, and are usually quick to brag about it, it should be noted that the other rearing institutions also do an incredible job. They developed the protocols and taught us almost everything we know, they simply don’t have the time that our inmates have every day to devote to caring for frogs. Also, Woodland Park Zoo brought over 600 frogs to the release, so really, a great job by everyone involved. Thanks again for your interest in the project.