McHenry County to train frog monitors

Become a citizen scientist and be a frog monitor. Participate in McHenry County Conservation District's Frog Monitoring Workshop from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road, Crystal Lake.

You will learn the techniques and protocol for monitoring the 13 species of frogs and toads of the region by their calls. After completing the training, interested volunteers may monitor district sites or private wetlands.

The conservation district in conjunction with the Chicago Wilderness Habitat Project is sponsoring this program to gather information on the abundance and distribution of frogs and toads throughout the region. The recorded data is utilized by land managers.

For more information, call Sara Denham, (815) 728-8307 or check out frogsurvey.org.

This free program is for all ages 12 and older, but preregistration is required to ensure enough materials are available for participants. Visit www.MCCDistrict.org or call (815) 479-5779.

In the 1960s, the cricket frog was the most common amphibian in Illinois. Today, it has nearly disappeared from the northern third of Illinois, for unexplained reasons. By monitoring amphibian populations in the Chicago region, they will be able to detect population changes before it is too late as well as assess the effects of management regimes on amphibians.

In 2000, Chicago Wilderness initiated a calling frog survey as part of its amphibian biodiversity recovery plan. In 2014, the Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum became home to the Calling Frog Survey. Educated volunteers collect and submit data each spring.

The level of commitment includes: one late winter workshop; three site visits per season for multiple seasons, with each site visit lasting about an hour. You only have to learn the calls of 13 frogs and toads.

The goal is to establish calling frog survey routes throughout the Chicago region, resulting in amphibian abundance and distribution data. They particularly want to continue monitoring sites that have thus far been monitored regularly, so that they can obtain long-term data on amphibian trends within key sites. Data from the Calling Frog Survey will be used to guide regional conservation planning and local land management, to ensure that no other amphibian suffers the fate of the cricket frog.