Register now for the 2022 Oregon Spotted Frog Identification training session. This training will enable environmental monitors (staff or contractors) to accurately identify and distinguish local frog species caught during work in and around waterways, ditches, or wetlands. This is an important professional development opportunity for environmental monitors to ensure due diligence and accuracy in amphibian identification. If your organization will be working in Oregon Spotted Frog areas and would like to send a group for hands-on frog identification and habitat recognition training, please consider this limited-time opportunity.

Training will be provided by Aleesha Switzer (RPBio), a local biologist specializing in Oregon Spotted Frogs. The charge for this 2.5-hour training session will be $25 per person. Training will take place at an Oregon Spotted Frog wetland site in Agassiz. Additional details will be made available upon registration.

Four session options are offered across two dates based on the frog breeding window in 2022:

Thursday, March 10^th  9:30am-12:00pm     or     1:00pm-3:30pm

Friday, March 11^th 9:30am-12:00pm     or     1:00pm-3:30pm

Depending on the demand, new dates may be added. If conditions change, the dates may need to be adjusted slightly (for example, if a large freeze event halts breeding and frogs are not available for in-hand identification training). Participants will be notified as quickly as possible if any schedule changes need to be made.

Once Registered – You will receive an email within 2 business days with additional details on the session, including when and where to meet.

Additional Information

This session is intended for environmental professionals including environmental monitors, municipal staff, and decision-makers who come into contact with Oregon Spotted Frog and its habitat. Oregon Spotted Frog is highly Endangered (provincially and federally). Within Canada, it is only known to occur in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. It lives in water year-round and is found in a variety of agricultural ditches, sloughs, shallow wetlands, and marshes. In the past decade, two new populations of Oregon Spotted Frog have been discovered in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, suggesting there are more potential areas where this endangered frog may be undiscovered. Oregon Spotted Frogs are most likely to be encountered during regular drainage maintenance works; however few environmental monitors are trained on the identification of this cryptic species.

All participants must wear a face covering when within 2m of another individual. We will be in group sizes of up to 12 people (plus the instructor).

For questions, please contact Aleesha: aleesha@fraservalleyconservancy.ca