AGASSIZ — Hope for Canada’s most endangered amphibian arrived Thursday in three plastic white buckets on the shores of still and murky Maria Slough at Seabird Island.
About 100 juvenile Oregon spotted frogs were released to a stretch of rehabilitated habitat lined with bigleaf maples, western red cedars and cottonwoods, all in the shadow of snowy Mount Cheam.
The frogs were captive-raised by the Greater Vancouver Zoo and Vancouver Aquarium as part of a program to help the species dating back to 1999. Their webbed feet have been colour-coded with a dye to allow researchers who are part of the multi-partner Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Team to identify them later.
Aleesha Switzer, a biologist with Fraser Valley Conservancy, said in an interview that the Oregon spotted frog is “by far” the most endangered amphibian in Canada, found only in the Fraser Valley from Langley to Agassiz. It is also at risk in Washington state, on the decline in Oregon and gone from California.
Current reintroduction efforts are focused on two sites at Maria Slough, where frog egg masses last year provided researchers with inspiration, as well as Morris Valley near Harrison Mills.
“We’re now releasing with optimism that the project is going to continue to succeed and build a new population,” Switzer said. “Until now, we haven’t been able to confidently say it’s working.”
School kids take part in the release of about 100 juvenile captive-raised Oregon spotted frogs near Agassiz on Thursday.
The species is endangered due, in large part, to habitat loss and introduction of the non-native bull frog, a voracious predator that has been expanding its range in the Fraser Valley. So far, researchers have not found any evidence of the bull frog in Maria Slough, though it does occur elsewhere in Agassiz.
A restoration project in the slough has created shallow-pool marsh habitat lost over the decades due to human development, including agriculture and road construction.
More than two dozen people attended the release event, an obvious effort to generate awareness for the frog’s precarious plight. But it also created a bit of a circus, with people tromping on portions of the frog’s breeding habit and young children with no special skill at handling frogs — especially endangered ones — being allowed to participate in the release.
Said Switzer: “Many people would disagree with handling the frogs, but in our case it was done under supervision and resulted in a connection the children, and their parents, will not soon forget.”
The Oregon spotted frog is a medium-sized frog, with adults growing to five to 10 centimetres from the snout to rump, according to the B.C. government. They spend much of their time in the water and, when disturbed, will dive to the bottom, making them difficult to find.
Females lay egg masses communally. The tadpoles grow into froglets after four months, take two to three years to reach breeding age, and are thought to live to four or five years.
Adults eat mostly invertebrates such as beetles, flies, spiders and water striders.
The Oregon spotted frog is a medium-sized frog, with adults growing to five to 10 centimetres from the snout to rump.
Two of about 100 juvenile Oregon spotted frogs, captive-raised by the Greater Vancouver Zoo and Vancouver Aquarium as part of a program to help the species, are about to be released into rehabilitated habitat near Agassiz on Thursday.
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