SUN JOURNAL (New Bern, N Carolina) 19 January 07 Volunteers needed for frog/toad surveys (Ed Wall)
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is looking for a few good ears. Volunteers are needed to help Commission biologists monitor frog and toad populations statewide through the North Carolina Calling Amphibian Survey Program. The program, in its second year of implementation, has 64 survey routes across the state. Volunteers adopt a route, which they agree to drive three nights out of the year while listening for frogs and toads. Along each route are 10 stops where the surveyors pause for a five-minute period to listen and write down all the frog and toad calls they hear. The data they collect will then be compiled and used to assess trends in amphibian populations in North Carolina and the Southeast.
Surveys will be conducted during the following periods: Jan. 15-Feb. 28; March 15-April 30 and May 15-June 30. Volunteers will conduct at least one survey along their assigned route within each of the three time periods.
To assist them in their venture, each volunteer will be provided a packet of monitoring materials and instructions. In addition, free training workshops will be held periodically. Volunteers who complete their surveys will receive a free copy of the upcoming “Frogs and Toads of North Carolina” CD and booklet being prepared by the Commission.
“Anyone with an interest in the frogs and toads, and a willingness to learn their calls and run three surveys a year is encouraged to participate,” said Kendrick Weeks, a wildlife technician with the NCWRC.
A world-wide decline in frogs and toads has prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to administer the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program. The North Carolina survey, a part of that program, was initiated in 2006. Fewer than half of the designated routes were surveyed in the first year, but the Commission already has collected important information about species distributions.
Information about the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program is available online at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/naamp. To participate in the North Carolina survey or find out more about it, contact Kendrick Weeks at Kendrick.weeks@earthlink.net.

http://www.newbernsj.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=32229&Section=Sports