Volunteers Make Way For Migrating Amphibians
A spotted salamander is helped across the road by a volunteer amphibian crossing guard on a recent rainy night. (Herald / Chris Gish)
Standing on the side of a busy road on a cold, rainy night might not seem like the most gratifying activity at the end of a long winter. According to Aubrey Pelletier, though, being an amphibian crossing guard is an unparalleled way to welcome the spring.
“It’s the greatest thing ever,” said Pelletier, a Randolph resident and 2019 University of Vermont zoology graduate. “You just get to go out in the rain and catch frogs.”
Every spring, when it is dark, rainy, and above 40°, amphibians migrate up to a quarter mile from their upland wintering sites to breeding areas. Where roads intersect these ancient migration routes, according to Zac Cota, a teacher-naturalist at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier, amphibians can suffer mortality by the hundreds, since they have no natural response to avoid cars.
Cota directs the Amphibian Road Crossing program, which recruits volunteers to help amphibians at established crossing sites and to collect data for a statewide map. At the core of this program are “crossing guards” like Pelletier and her friend Marya Merriam, who intervene at road-crossing sites to protect amphibians as they cross roads during their annual trek. The activity is simple enough—carefully moving amphibians to the side of the road by picking them up or “herding” them out of the way—but the impact can be stark.
“It feels really rewarding at the end of the night when you’ve counted up and you’re like ‘wow, we saved 80 peepers tonight,’” said Merriam, a Strafford resident.
Besides getting amphibians out of harm’s way, collecting data is the other main responsibility of a crossing guard, according to Cota. Volunteers systematically walk the length of a roughly half-mile transect, counting amphibians both dead and alive across the whole width of the road and recording the number of each species.
The program spans most of Vermont, Cota said, and has expanded from “a few dozen to hundreds” of volunteers since it began in 2005. For him, the most exciting part of the project is seeing people “getting close experiences with [amphibians], getting excited … and then being part of an effort that is going to help make positive change for these animals.”
Merriam and Pelletier both said their nights as crossing guards helped them realize how fascinating and under-appreciated amphibians are.
“I love amphibians— they’re so charismatic,” Merriam said.
Crossing guards interact with species that are difficult to see during the rest of the year. “Mole salamanders” like the spotted Jefferson, and blue-spotted salamanders, live most of the year hidden in underground burrows, according to Cota. Frog species like spring peepers and wood frogs are well known by their sound but are hard to find when they are not migrating.
Becoming a crossing guard is “pretty easy,” Pelletier said. Volunteers do a quick training on the North Branch Nature Center website, print out the data sheets, and wait for a rainy night. It is not necessary to follow the nature center’s protocols to help amphibians cross the road, Pelletier said, “but they are collecting data, so it’s kind of fun.” People can also suggest a new crossing site if they see amphibians crossing a road not already marked on the map.
Pelletier and Merriam offered a few tips for a safe night. Crossing guards should always carry amphibians to whichever side of the road they were originally moving towards, since the critters could be headed to or from their breeding site. And, for the crossing guard’s own safety, “bring reflective gear and bright flashlights,” Merriam said.
Cota, the amphibian road crossing director, called crossing guards a “stopgap measure” to save salamanders and frogs while more permanent solutions are put in place.
“The goal is to change our infrastructure to make it more wildlife friendly for the long term,” he said.
This goal began to be realized in 2016, when data from the Amphibian Road Crossing project was instrumental to the installation of an amphibian underpass in Monkton. According to Cota, the Agency of Transportation would like to install more projects like this where they can justify the investment.
“The state Agency of Transportation is really committed to doing this sort of work to build infrastructure that doesn’t just work for us but works for natural communities too,” he said. “The big piece for them is having the data to know where these things are most effective.”
Overall, Cota counted three threats to the future of amphibians in Vermont: climate change, habitat loss, and new diseases.
The road-crossing program, he said, is not directly linked to these threats, but it is critical for maintaining robust populations that will allow amphibians to weather the bigger challenges.
Climate change drives warmer springs and earlier snowmelts that “take a toll particularly on vernal pools,” Cota said. Vernal pools are critical habitats for amphibians to breed and lay their eggs, because they can not support permanent populations of fish or other predators.
Habitat, meanwhile, is jeopardized by “cars, roads, houses,” and anything else that disturbs amphibians’ life cycles in forests or water.
Worldwide, amphibians are dying off at a faster rate than any other group of animals. Fungal diseases have wiped out populations in Europe and parts of the U.S., and the arrival of these diseases to Vermont, Cota said, is “not a matter of if, but when.”
Merriam and Pelletier saw the uncertain future of amphibians firsthand as they helped them cross Route 66 in Randolph. Scraping 50 dead spring peepers off the road in one pass, Merriam said, “definitely underscores how much road mortality there is.”
Despite the grim moments, Merriam said the road crossing program is a rare opportunity to do something undeniably good for wild species.
“You know that your interaction is positive because you’re moving them out of the road,” Merriam said. “The overwhelming feeling is that it is a lot of fun.”
