Year of the Frog information

The Problem

2008 has been named the Year of the Frog. The Year of the Frog project, is a global coordinated effort with the goal of raising public awareness and understanding of the amphibian extinction crisis. The many factors that are contributing to the rapid decrease in the amphibian population include:

Amphibian habitats are changing (i.e. the cutting down of trees)
Streams where amphibians live are being polluted
Climate Change
Many areas of the world are getting warmer, making it too hot for amphibians to live
Disease is being introduced to their habitat
Chytrid fungus is spreading throughout the amphibian population and killing many amphibians
People are taking amphibians out of their habitat

The Effects

Increase in the insect population which will result in the spread of disease and the destruction of crops which will in turn compel farmers to use more pesticides
Potential for extinction
Warning signs that the health of the earth is at risk
Amphibians are a bioindicator species, they tell us about the health of our environment and can warn us of trouble ahead

What is IWA Doing to Help ?

IWA Nature Club Goals for Involvement

To begin helping this conservation effort, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo recommends a three-step process: LEARN about amphibians; ACT to help amphibians and their habitats; and SHARE your story and enthusiasm with others.

These recommendations are the foundation for Incarnate Word Academy’s project. The goals include:

LEARN: To increase the knowledge of IWA Nature Club students (130 K-7^th graders) through specialized environmental educational programming provided by the Cleveland Metroparks Naturalist at their monthly meetings.

ACT: To increase opportunities for the IWA Nature Club students (130 K-7^th graders), to engage in conservation efforts and conserve amphibians and their habitats. This will be done by an IWA Nature Club field trip to West Creek Reservation in Parma Heights where students will assist the Metroparks staff in catching frogs and gathering swab samples for researchers. Individually, students will also increase their conservation efforts by turning off the water, not littering, turning off the lights, recycling, building a toad abode, preventing our pets from disturbing wildlife and buying earth-friendly products.

SHARE: To increase awareness of the Year of the Frog project in the IWA Community and in the Cleveland area and to encourage active participation in conservation efforts. This will be done by the IWA Nature Club students as they create a series of posters depicting; Which animals are at risk? What can we do to help and Why? and What will be the result if we take or do not take action? These posters will be on display at a Cleveland Metroparks Nature Center. We will choose the artwork from a few of these posters to create decorative and informative magnets and bookmarks promoting the Year of the Frog project and conservation action steps. These magnets and bookmarks will help to raise awareness of the global amphibian crisis and will be distributed to 492 IWA students and approximately 2,000 families attending the Year of the Frog events at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo events throughout the year.

IWA Girl Scouts and School Involvement

The IWA girls scouts( Junior Troop 1410 IWA) are supporting the Year of the Frog effort while earning their bronze award. They have created a game that was played by preschoolers during “ Leap Day” at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Preschoolers rolled a big die, recognized a color and hopped to a space that corresponds with a stage of frog metamorphosis. The scouts also helped to collect cans for conservation and learned more about the amphibian crisis.

They also helped to create two habitat murals ( Wetlands of Ohio and the Rainforest of Central America) by assembling drawings of plants made by IWA students onto two 20 foot backgrounds. IWA students affixed two frogs ( one for each habitat ) that they made on Leap Day, Friday February 29, totaling 1,000 frogs in all ! An amphibian keeper from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo spoke on the IWA morning announcements on Leap Day also, thanking the kids for caring about frogs and urging them to leap into action by considering some of the suggestions on www.forfrogs.org.

In addition, the Girl Scouts will be participating in a citizen science program in March catching frogs in the Cleveland Metroparks, swabbing the frogs backs and testing to see if the frogs have a disease that scientists suspect is contributing to the world – wide decline of frogs .

IWA Student Year of the Frog Mural

Current Local Efforts

All across the globe, organizations are coordinating efforts to save the amphibian population. In Northeast Ohio a regional initiative is underway called, Leap into Action (LIA). This initiative has more than two dozen conservation and science-related organizations and groups in Northeast Ohio working together in 2008 to highlight amphibians and their habitats through special events, activities, displays and programs throughout the year. The goals of the initiative are to highlight regional amphibian/wetland conservation efforts, raise awareness about the plight of amphibians and promote real opportunities for the public to directly support and get involved in amphibian and wetland conservation efforts right here in Northeast Ohio.

More information can be found at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo website:

http://www.clemetzoo.com/forfrogs/