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Oregon spotted frog
• Description: A medium-sized amphibian 2 to 4 inches long, brown to reddish brown with irregular black spots on its back and a red to orange tinge of color on its belly or legs.
• Status: A state endangered species since 1997 and a candidate for the federal Endangered Species Act list. Once common from the Canadian border south to the Columbia River, the frogs are now known to reproduce in only about 10 locations in Thurston and Klickitat counties.
• Cause of decline: Loss of wetland habitat, disease and introduction of predators to the region, including the American bullfrog.
The Olympian
Imperiled frogs get a fresh start at Fort Lewis
Amphibians take to 50-acre lake
By John Dodge | The Olympian
FORT LEWIS – About 500 tiny newcomers hopped and skittered through the mucky waters of Dailman Lake on Monday, pioneers in the first-ever relocation project for the Oregon spotted frog, a state endangered species.
They were born this spring in the Black River wetlands of Thurston County, captured and reared at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park near Eatonville and transported to a secluded, 50-acre lake and wetlands complex at Fort Lewis in a bid to boost their numbers and help them avoid extinction.
Weighing less than an ounce, the frogs were released to cheers and cries of "good luck," which they'll need to fend off bull frogs, warm water fish and other predators.
"If we get a 5 percent survival rate, that would be great," said Marc Hayes, a Department of Fish and Wildlife scientist and herpetologist.
The pilot reintroduction project also will include 100 frogs from the Oregon zoo, then continue with the release of about 1,000 baby frogs each year at Fort Lewis through 2012.
The project is modeled after recovery programs in British Columbia, where survival rates have improved when large numbers of juvenile frogs are released at the same time, said Harriet Allen, state Fish and Wildlife's endangered species program manager.
Six of the tiny amphibians were equipped with lightweight radio transmitters to track their movement and survival rates in the weeks ahead.
"We have very little understanding of where juvenile frogs go," Hayes said.
Frogs are known to play an important role in the wetlands food web, eating grasshoppers and other insects while providing food for snakes, owls and hawks.
The Oregon spotted frogs joined a long list of imperiled species that have found a new home at Fort Lewis through ongoing habitat restoration and species recovery programs for the Western grey squirrel, blue birds, prairie butterflies and the great horned lark, to name a few.
The spotted frog recovery program features many partners, including Fish and Wildlife, Fort Lewis, Northwest Trek, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Northwest Zoo & Aquarium Association and others.
The project's launch coincides with what the Association of Zoos & Aquariums are calling the 2008 Year of the Frog, a major conservation effort to address global amphibian extinction, Fort Lewis fish and wildlife biologist Jim Lynch said.
"Frogs are found in all parts of the world and are known as sentinel animals by alerting us to serious environmental and climate changes that can affect all species," Lynch added.
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