THE OREGONIAN (Portland, Oregon) 14 February 08 Frogs croaks serve as Gresham's wake-up call on water quality (Whitney Malkin)
Slogging through milkshake-brown water, Laura Guderyahn shifts in her waders as raindrops slap her Kelly-green parka.
Piercing blue eyes flashing, she plunges a hand below the surface, fingers grasping for a slimy, grapefruit-size egg sac.
Such is the life of the frog hunter.
Leaping from graduate school at Ball State into the AmeriCorps Northwest Service program, Guderyahn waded through 71 of Gresham's ponds last year as a volunteer, tracking state-listed amphibians that are in short supply.
Her work was such a success that the city found the funding to keep her full time as a watershed conservationist.
Now, the 25-year-old Chicago native spends her days prowling Gresham's bogs and wetlands, tracking frogs, salamanders and turtles.
Frogs and salamanders have thin skin and are especially sensitive to water pollution, so Guderyahn uses them as a barometer for water quality by studying fluctuations in population, breeding habits and mutations.
"It really tells us a story around the city of what's going on with water quality," said Kathy Majidi, Gresham's natural resource program coordinator.
These days, the story frogs tell is not a happy one.
Last summer, Guderyahn discovered eight- and 10-legged frogs in an algae-filled pond near Butler Creek Elementary.
"I was shocked," she says. "They were all trying to hop up this hill, but they had so many legs, they weren't going anywhere."
Guderyahn scooped up 10 frogs, packed them in a box and shipped them to the University of Colorado, where frog expert Pieter Johnson dissected them.
He discovered that all those extra legs were the result of a parasite.
"He was amazed when I sent them to him," she says. "He said they were some of the worst mutations he had ever seen."
Guderyahn suspects fertilizer from a nearby field may be enabling the increase in parasites. But to be sure, she will have to collect more samples this spring.
Her job requires patience. To establish reliable water-quality patterns, she'll have to collect data for three to five years.
The massive scope of the project is one of the reasons Guderyahn recruits volunteers to help track and monitor the five species of frogs and salamanders and two species of turtles in the Gresham area.
But in the winter months, volunteers are few.
Most days, Guderyahn goes out alone or with this year's AmeriCorps volunteer.
She monitors local ponds often, which is why she is trudging through latte-colored ponds in southeast Gresham as a February chill sweeps across the water.
"It's really slick," she cautions, wobbling as she submerges her feet in the brown muck. "I've definitely gone in more than once. Now, I keep a spare change of clothes under my desk."
Despite the challenges of her work, Guderyahn says she's found a job that agrees with her.
She's impatiently waiting for the spring arrival of this season's amphibians, eager to hear the tales the tadpoles will tell about Gresham's water.
Until then, she'll spend more days like this one, pulling on thigh-high waders and sinking into Gresham's backwaters.
Another day, another pond.
And a hope that even in murky water, clarity surrounding complex issues will arise.
"Everyone hopes they can change the world," she says, emerging from the banks of the marsh. "I think this is my chance to do just that."
Frogs croaks serve as Gresham's wake-up call on water quality