Oregon Spotted Frog (OSF)
Total 2008 award: $22,046PDZA is funding multiple projects this year that deal with Oregon spotted frog conservation. Read below for the details of each project.
Oregon Spotted Frog Captive Rearing and Release
2008 award: $10,046
The Oregon spotted frog is a Washington State Endangered Species and a Federal Candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. This project seeks an initial year of funding to restore the Oregon spotted frog to part of its former range on the Fort Lewis Military base by collecting embryos from other sites in Washington, rearing them at Northwest Trek and the Oregon Zoo, and releasing them into a suitable habitat at Fort Lewis.
2008 award: $10,046
The Oregon spotted frog is a Washington State Endangered Species and a Federal Candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. This project seeks an initial year of funding to restore the Oregon spotted frog to part of its former range on the Fort Lewis Military base by collecting embryos from other sites in Washington, rearing them at Northwest Trek and the Oregon Zoo, and releasing them into a suitable habitat at Fort Lewis.
Oregon Spotted Frog and Prairie Habitat Enhancement
2008 award: $7,000
The goal of this project is to research habitat improvement techniques for Oregon spotted frog populations threatened by invasive vegetation.
Invasive plants, in particular reed canary grass, are believed to threaten Oregon spotted frog populations throughout the northern part of their range. OSFs require short vegetation covered by standing water to mate and lay eggs. Wetland habitat at West Rocky Prairie has become degraded due to reed canary grass and encroachment of shrubs. Reed canary grass invasion is identified as a primary threat to OSFs at this site.
In this project, we will treat land at a known breeding site for OSF. Treatments will involve shrub removal and mowing reed canary grass. Visual encounter surveys will be conducted to determine water levels and locations of OSF relative to treatment plots, minimizing risks to OSF life stages.
2008 award: $7,000
The goal of this project is to research habitat improvement techniques for Oregon spotted frog populations threatened by invasive vegetation.
Invasive plants, in particular reed canary grass, are believed to threaten Oregon spotted frog populations throughout the northern part of their range. OSFs require short vegetation covered by standing water to mate and lay eggs. Wetland habitat at West Rocky Prairie has become degraded due to reed canary grass and encroachment of shrubs. Reed canary grass invasion is identified as a primary threat to OSFs at this site.
In this project, we will treat land at a known breeding site for OSF. Treatments will involve shrub removal and mowing reed canary grass. Visual encounter surveys will be conducted to determine water levels and locations of OSF relative to treatment plots, minimizing risks to OSF life stages.
Oregon Spotted Frog Post-Release Telemetry
2008 award: $4,500
The goal of this project is to monitor post-release Oregon spotted frogs. Monitoring the release outcome is essential to modify the release program for future success. Since movements and survivorship of released frogs cannot be effectively monitored without telemetry, we proposed to monitor a subset of the released frogs.
This proposal addresses support only for the juvenile frogs being tracked during 2008. Juvenile OSF are too small to carry transmitters designed for adult frogs, so we will use bat transmitters that have lower frequency to extend longevity. We will switch transmitters out at least once to extend the effective tracking period. We anticipate that this will allow tracking of juveniles for at least 8 weeks. Because of the short time interval, tracking of individual juvenile frogs will occur over a 2-day interval initially and over a 3-4 day interval thereafter.
We will GPS radioed frogs at their release point with a high-resolution GPS unit and describe their micro-habitat. After relocation of a released frog, we will re-GPS the location, re-describe the micro-habitat, and also describe the condition and behavior of the frog (live, dead, or other). Distance and direction of movement between locations will be obtained from changes in GPS position. Dead or dying frogs will be preserved for necropsy.
The final product of this project will be a report summarizing the movement and survivorship results of tracked frogs.
2008 award: $4,500
The goal of this project is to monitor post-release Oregon spotted frogs. Monitoring the release outcome is essential to modify the release program for future success. Since movements and survivorship of released frogs cannot be effectively monitored without telemetry, we proposed to monitor a subset of the released frogs.
This proposal addresses support only for the juvenile frogs being tracked during 2008. Juvenile OSF are too small to carry transmitters designed for adult frogs, so we will use bat transmitters that have lower frequency to extend longevity. We will switch transmitters out at least once to extend the effective tracking period. We anticipate that this will allow tracking of juveniles for at least 8 weeks. Because of the short time interval, tracking of individual juvenile frogs will occur over a 2-day interval initially and over a 3-4 day interval thereafter.
We will GPS radioed frogs at their release point with a high-resolution GPS unit and describe their micro-habitat. After relocation of a released frog, we will re-GPS the location, re-describe the micro-habitat, and also describe the condition and behavior of the frog (live, dead, or other). Distance and direction of movement between locations will be obtained from changes in GPS position. Dead or dying frogs will be preserved for necropsy.
The final product of this project will be a report summarizing the movement and survivorship results of tracked frogs.
Oregon Spotted Frog Reintroduction Review
2008 award: $500
The goal of this project is to review amphibian reintroduction programs to inform our current efforts to establish new populations of Oregon spotted frogs in Washington State. WDFW is currently collaborating with Evergreen State College Professor Heather Heying and her student, Chris Soriano, to start gathering information and organizing on this project.
Mr. Soriano has compiled an extensive collection of papers and has begun to synthesize the methods for reintroduction and monitoring of efforts. He will analyze the outcomes in graphical format for ease of interpretation by WDFW scientists.
Chris will graduate from Evergreen in June 2008, but we would like to have him continue to work on this project for one month to finalize the data synthesis and writing of the report. We (WDFW and Evergreen) initiated the development of this review because of a lack of syntheses available on the reintroduction effectiveness in anurans. Hence, this report will be a critical part of guidance during the planning stages for the pilot reintroduction of OSFs.
2008 award: $500
The goal of this project is to review amphibian reintroduction programs to inform our current efforts to establish new populations of Oregon spotted frogs in Washington State. WDFW is currently collaborating with Evergreen State College Professor Heather Heying and her student, Chris Soriano, to start gathering information and organizing on this project.
Mr. Soriano has compiled an extensive collection of papers and has begun to synthesize the methods for reintroduction and monitoring of efforts. He will analyze the outcomes in graphical format for ease of interpretation by WDFW scientists.
Chris will graduate from Evergreen in June 2008, but we would like to have him continue to work on this project for one month to finalize the data synthesis and writing of the report. We (WDFW and Evergreen) initiated the development of this review because of a lack of syntheses available on the reintroduction effectiveness in anurans. Hence, this report will be a critical part of guidance during the planning stages for the pilot reintroduction of OSFs.
