Nighttime 'bio-blitz' nets hundreds of environmentally challenged toads


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GROUSE CREEK, Box Elder County — In inky darkness dozens of miles from the nearest outpost of civilization, the beam of a flashlight caught a brief movement, a splash, and the sudden sweep of a fisherman's net.

"Oh, there goes one. Gotcha," said volunteer Jeremy Westerman as he scooped up a toad about the size of a big man's thumb.

"They're lively," said Samuel McKay of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "They're coming out to feed."

It was part of a three-night "bio-blitz" that sent teams of experts and volunteers into one of the driest and most remote places in Utah. In the hours after sunset, they were on a catch-and-release mission to document the health and population dynamics of a species that some believe is threatened with extinction.

"I got it in my hand," yelled one volunteer as he grabbed a toad. A second later, it jumped away and escaped. "I had it in my hand," he said with disappointment.

"I love these boreal toads," said Samuel McKay, who led the DWR's expedition into the Grouse Creek Mountains of northwest Utah. "I think they're cute. They're fascinating. The more that we learn about them, the more that we discover — I discover — how unique of an animal that they really are."

Not everybody would consider the boreal toad to be cute, and some people might be put off by one of its defensive tactics.

"They excrete a toxin that at least tastes bad to a predator," McKay explained.

But boreal toads have earned respect from experts just for surviving in this particular place.

In broad daylight, the target zone of the bio-blitz looks like an unlikely habitat for a threatened amphibian. It's a vast, barren desert far to the west of the Great Salt Lake. The toads have found a refuge of sorts in several small, man-made ponds that were created for livestock.

A team of experts and volunteers with the Utah Division of Wildlife 
Resources documents the health and population dynamics of a 
species that some believe is threatened with extinction. They are 
looking for boreal toads in the Grouse Creek Mountains of northwest 
Utah.
A team of experts and volunteers with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources documents the health and population dynamics of a species that some believe is threatened with extinction. They are looking for boreal toads in the Grouse Creek Mountains of northwest Utah. (Photo: Ken Fall, KSL TV)

Wildlife officials have more than a passing interest in the toad's survival. Environmentalists have threatened to sue the federal government for failing to give boreal toads protection under the Endangered Species Act.

According to the website of the Center for Biological Diversity, the "boreal toad has recently experienced dramatic population declines, suffering across its U.S. range from threats like habitat destruction by livestock, pesticides and other pollutants, and predation by introduced species."

State wildlife officials hope data collected in the bio-blitz will show that the toads are surviving — at least in Utah's West Desert — without special federal protection.

Last summer, one of the ponds was ravaged by wildfire. Pointing to a slope above the pond, Paul Thompson of the DWR said, "It burned all the way down this hill, through the pond and across. At the end of July 2013, there was not anything green to be seen here."

Boreal toads live mostly in wetter, mountain areas of Utah. Their toehold in the desert seems limited — if not fragile — so experts worried that one vital piece of habitat might have been wiped out. Today, though, lush vegetation has returned to the area surrounding the fire-swept pond.

"There was a great effort to vegetate this area," Thompson said, "and a year later I'm really amazed at how great this area looks now."

As the bio-blitz team waited for darkness to fall on a recent evening, Westerman scooped up one of the toads and inspected its belly.

"He doesn't have any red, irritated patches or sloughing skin," he said. "So he doesn't have chytrid fungus."

That's good news. Around the world, the chytrid fungus is blamed for devastating losses of toad and frog populations. The fungus has been found in some parts of Utah but so far not in the desert refuges of the boreal toad.


I love these boreal toads. I think they're cute. They're fascinating. The more that we learn about them, the more that we discover — I discover — how unique of an animal that they really are.

–Samuel McKay, DWR


"Even where we do have it in the state," Thompson said, "we haven't seen those big die-offs of amphibians like other states have."

As the catch-and-release operation began, the effects of last summer's wildfire were a bigger worry for McKay.

"I'm a little bit skeptical that we're going to get a whole mess of them," he said.

But moments later he was proven wrong. Toad catchers began spotting and grabbing toads by the dozens.

"I got three more, dude," Westerman yelled.

The toads are easier to catch at night because they like to come out when it's cool and when they have better chances of catching bugs. It's also a time when some of them come out to mate.

As it turned out, the bio-blitz netted 339 toads at eight nearby sites. Eighty-five of those were captured at the burned-over pond, a pleasant surprise to wildlife workers. Some sites showed slightly lower toad counts than in previous years, but, overall, wildlife officials say the numbers are comparable to earlier surveys.

The relative stability of the populations is considered a good sign for the toads' survival. In each captured toad, the team checked for or implanted a microchip, similar to those used to identify pet dogs and cats. The chip allows individual toads to be identified later when they are caught again. By keeping data on individual toads, the DWR can monitor health trends in the population.

A team of experts and volunteers with the Utah Division of Wildlife 
Resources documents the health and population dynamics of a 
species that some believe is threatened with extinction. They are 
looking for boreal toads in the Grouse Creek Mountains of northwest 
Utah.
A team of experts and volunteers with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources documents the health and population dynamics of a species that some believe is threatened with extinction. They are looking for boreal toads in the Grouse Creek Mountains of northwest Utah. (Photo: Ken Fall/KSL TV)

The microchips have revealed a surprising fact about the toads: They sometimes travel significant distances across the barren sagebrush desert.

"The longest documented distance that we've observed out here is 5 miles," McKay said. That involved a microchip-implanted toad that was found five miles from the pond where it was originally caught. "Five miles is an incredibly far way for a toad to hop," McKay said, "and to top this all off, it was a female who was missing a right rear foot."

State officials say the data collected over the years shows boreal toad populations in the desert are healthy and stable, proving that the toads can exist in multiple, diverse habitats around the state.

"We have enough populations in the state that we feel these populations, the boreal toad, is doing well in Utah," Thompson said.

DWR officials acknowledge that one of its goals is to keep boreal toads off the threatened species list. Utah ranchers oppose the listing, fearing it would prompt federal officials to establish new protections for the toads, including possible restrictions on alterations of their habitat.

"So the more we can do now to keep it from being listed," Thompson said, "the better off the ranchers are, the better off the state of Utah is."

When a reporter asked if that's better for the toads themselves, Thompson replied, "It is better for the toads because we're putting an effort in for this species and trying to conserve areas like this."

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