Hudson Valley Volunteers Help Amphibians During Migration
Let's leave playing Frogger for Nintendo.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced that it is officially the start of salamander and frog migration season.
Commissioner Basil Seggos in a press release "New York hosts an incredible array of amphibians, and an even more amazing volunteer network that helps ensure their survival each spring." The Hudson Valley plays an important role for the amphibians during their migration season.
Volunteers all over the Hudson Valley will be working on the DEC's Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project. They will be collecting data about migrations crossroads, weather patterns and traffic conditions. They are also asked to identify and count the salamanders, frogs, and toads on the move.
In the press release the DEC explains that Wood Frogs and Salamanders usually start their New York migration "on rainy nights in late March and early April, when the night air temperature is above 40F" and that when the conditions are just right, we are likely to see a "big night migrations, with hundreds of amphibians."
The DEC urges drivers "to proceed with caution or avoid travel on the first warm, rainy evenings of the season. Amphibians come out after nightfall and are slow moving; mortality can be high even on low-traffic roads."