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Historically, the Fraser Valley was dominated by wetlands and it's an ecosystem that barely
exists anymore.
The large majority of our wetlands have been drained for human purposes.
The Oregon Spotted Frog represents this marsh wetland habitat that used to be dominant across
the Fraser Valley and is now practically gone.
Oregon Spotted Frogs are Canada's most-endangered amphibian
as we have very few populations and those few populations are very small.
Right now, we know of three breeding populations in all of Canada and they're all within a
very small geographic area and with those three breeding populations, we have approximately
three hundred breeding females. We've lost a lot of frogs due to habitat alterations
but the other reason we've lost a lot of frogs is that the American Bullfrog, which is invasive
in the Fraser Valley, is much larger than Oregon Spotted Frogs and much more aggressive.
They are fierce predators, so they are able to out-compete and potentially also eat adult
Oregon Spotted Frogs. I am using radio telemetry to identify how these two species use the
same habitats differently. In order to figure out what the bullfrogs are using versus what
the spotted frogs are using, we have attached radio transmitters to members of each species
and we followed them around the wetland. So, we'll be able to take that information and
develop criteria to try to prevent bullfrogs from establishing dense populations in areas
where we're trying to restore Oregon Spotted Frog populations.
So, the Oregon Spotted Frog was originally discovered or identified as a species in Oregon, it's spotted, but it's
Latin name is beautiful: it's rana pretiosa, which means precious frog, and these frogs
are spectacular! They've got these bright, gold eyes and the frogs here can go from this
kind of Kermit-green to a dark brown and they're very shy. They're very sedentary frogs. They
hide in tunnels, they hide in muck underwater, their entire physiology is one of a frog that
spends much of its time underwater. This species is a challenging species to work with. They're
very cryptic, they hide, they're difficult to find, they're difficult to see, they're
difficult to catch... even with all of the tools that we have, we still have so many
questions about the species and about the habitats that it uses.
One of the new technologies that we're using are detector dogs. We're trying to use dogs trained in detecting amphibians
and specifically, Oregon Spotted Frogs, by smell, so that we can find new populations.
Oregon Spotted Frogs and all amphibians are species that use the water and they actually absorb
water through their skin and any pollutants or chemicals that are in that water are directly
accessible to the frog's bloodstream. They are indicators of changing climates, changing
ecosystems, changing landscapes and we're learning that if we pay attention to the amphibians,
we can learn about the ecosystems around us.
What I have come to understand is that it's not all about the frog - it's about the habitat
and it's about the landscape and it's about
ensuring that those rich wetland landscapes still exist in our world. The Oregon Spotted
Frog is a reminder of what the Fraser Valley used to be and used to look like
and gives us something to work towards in recovering and restoring our landscape.