Volunteers with keen ears are needed in the area to help the Iowa Department of Natural Resources track the state’s populations of frogs and toads in an effort to monitor water quality.
Graduates of the D-N-R’s so-called Frog and Toad School learn to identify the critters by their calls, like the Boreal Chorus Frog, the American Bullfrog, and the Eastern Gray Tree Frog.
Wildlife diversity biologist Stephanie Shepherd says volunteers are especially needed in northwest Iowa…(audio clip below :22 )
Volunteers will only need to make three trips during the spring and early summer, a total commitment of between eight and ten hours a year.
Shepherd says the ideal volunteer is interested in the outdoors, detail-oriented, and patient. They’ll also need good note-taking skills and a computer with an internet connection…(audio clip below :13 )
Iowans have collected data on more than 22-hundred wetlands through the program since 1991.
An in-person course is scheduled for Tuesday, April 11th starting at 6:30pm in Buena Vista County at Gabrielson Park near Sioux Rapids. There is a five-dollar fee to cover workshop materials. The course will run for about three hours.
Click here to register.
(Thanks to Radio Iowa for contributing)
