To the editor:
Every year, on the first warm, rainy nights of spring, thousands of amphibians migrate to vernal pools and other wetlands to breed. Many are killed when they must cross roads. To reduce amphibian roadkill, the Harris Center for Conservation Education coordinates volunteer “Salamander Crossing Brigades,” who move amphibians across roads by hand, keeping count as they go. This year alone, 250 Crossing Brigade volunteers helped 4,635 amphibians – including 2,536 spring peepers, 807 wood frogs, 795 spotted salamanders, and 40 Jefferson complex salamanders (a species of greatest conservation need in New Hampshire) – to safety at 30 road crossing sites throughout the Monadnock region.
In addition, the Peterborough Conservation Commission purchased new “Salamander Crossing” and “Volunteers Ahead” signs for use at the Summer Street crossing in Peterborough. The new signs were bigger, brighter, and much more visible than the inexpensive signs the Harris Center is typically able to provide, and drivers took notice – improving safety for people and salamanders alike. We’re grateful to the Peterborough Conservation Commission for supporting the Crossing Brigades program in this way, to all the drivers who slowed down as soon as they saw the unusual signs, and to superstar volunteers Sarah Murphy and Cathleen Calmer for setting up and taking down the signs each rainy night.
The Harris Center is proud to have collaborated with the Peterborough Conservation Commission on this initiative, and to work with so many dedicated and enthusiastic citizen scientists. Since 2007, we’ve trained more than 1,150 Crossing Brigade volunteers, who have helped an astonishing 47,385 amphibians survive the most dangerous journey of their lives. Many of our volunteers return, like the salamanders, year after year. What they do out there is more than science. It’s more than stewardship. It’s an act of hope and of heroism, repeated rainy night after rainy night. We cannot thank them enough.
Brett Amy Thelen
science director, Harris Center for Conservation Education
Hancock