Kicking off the County’s FrogWatch volunteer program

With this cold weather, county residents yearn for the sounds of spring and what has just been voted the most beautiful sound in the world – a chorus of frogs!

Last night, 26 county residents of all ages attended the first training for the brand new Montgomery County FrogWatch Volunteer Program at the Rockville Memorial Library. FrogWatch is a nation-wide frog and toad volunteer monitoring program run by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and hosted by local chapters.

Volunteers in the first ever Montgomery County FrogWatch training.

Volunteers learned about the program, monitoring protocols, and different frog and toad species found in Montgomery County. Even Sandy, DEP’s gray treefrog made an appearance!

Sandy the Gray Treefrog

FrogWatch is an activity for the whole family!

The next step for volunteers is to adopt one of the pre-registered stormwater management ponds as a monitoring site or to pick their own site, and of course, to study, study, study. Volunteers are eager to hear the call of the Spring Peeper, one of the first frogs to be heard and a sure sign of spring approaching!

A second field training will be held for the volunteers in mid-March to further educate them on identifying frog and toad calls.

– By Virginia Vassalotti, FrogWatch Coordinator and Conservation Corps Intern with the Department of Environmental Protection