A Letter from SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger
I am excited to be saving frogs with you in 2015 and hope your year is off to a great start. The SAVE THE FROGS! movement has grown significantly since 2008 and I am confident that with your support and involvement, this will be a fabulous year for the frogs. I want to send a huge thank you to the 201 generous donors who helped SAVE THE FROGS! raise $17,675 in December. These donations will help us spread amphibian awareness, campaign for threatened amphibians and train the next generation of amphibian conservationists.
##############################
Here’s what I have been up to so far in 2015 and my frog saving plan for the rest of the year. I encourage you to write out your 2015 frog-saving plan as well!
JANUARY:
I spent the first two weeks of the year in Florida, home to the Everglades and lots of threatened ecosystems. I gave live presentations in Miami and Big Pine Key and I gave a radio interview on one of the Florida Keys’ most popular radio stations. I visited the Ashton Biological Preserve, a great place with lots of amphibians. I flew to Costa Rica January 14th and am writing this newsletter from northwest Costa Rica where I have been re-connecting with nature, working on my Spanish, and also saving frogs. One of my formative frog experiences took place in Costa Rica while I was in college, and I started SAVE THE FROGS! in 2008 immediately after spending two amazing months here. Since I arrived in Costa Rica eleven days ago, I’ve sent three official letters to California state and county governments on behalf of frogs and salamanders. The first is to prevent the destruction of 97 acres of salamander and frog habitat in Shasta County by the tape company 3M for mining purposes. The second is to stop Santa Clara County’s mass spraying of insecticides in San Jose neighborhoods. The third is urging the California Department of Fish & Wildlife to stop allowing the importation of millions of non-native American Bullfrogs into the state.
FEBRUARY:
In February I will take part in a conference at the National University of Costa Rica and join two expeditions to search for and photograph frogs.
MARCH:
I will be giving presentations in the San Francisco Bay Area. SAVE THE FROGS! is excited to have received another round of funding for our San Francisco Tadpole Headstart program, from the Helen and Allan Ridley Charitable Trust. We seek San Francisco area school interested in hosting presentations of frog conservation, so please spread the word.
APRIL:
On April 25th I will celebrate Save The Frogs Day along with our worldwide community. If you want me to attend and present at your event, please plan a great event and then register your Save The Frogs Day event and send me an invite. We’ll also be sending out the April 2015 edition of the SAVE THE FROGS! Magazine.
MAY:
From May 18-22, I will be taking a class on wetland design and construction at Eastern Kentucky University. If you want to learn about wetlands and how to build them, you should register for the class, which is being taught by wetland expert Tom Biebighauser.
JUNE:
I am pleased to announce that the website will undergo a massive transformation this year. I have been studying web design and I will be giving the site a massive upgrade to newer, more powerful technology. Our new site will be run on Joomla open source software, which will enable us to have many editors around the world contributing to the site so that it grows rapidly and attracts exponentially more visitors. Over the past seven years I have spent thousands of hours to ensure that our website www.savethefrogs.com contains virtually everything I know about amphibians and how to save them. I am confident that everyone who visits www.savethefrogs.com has access to all the knowledge and inspiration they need to make a huge positive impact for amphibians. And I’m looking forward to giving the site lots of new functionality and making your user experience even better.
JULY:
In July I will co-lead our 3rd SAVE THE FROGS! Belize Ecotour July 9th-18th, 2015. This will be an amazing experience and I encourage you to let us know ASAP if you would like to join us as we explore the rainforests, tropical savannahs, Mayan ruins and coral reefs of Belize.
SEPTEMBER:
In September I plan to go to Mexico to take part in an amphibian conservation conference currently being organized by SAVE THE FROGS! Advisory Committee Member Dr. Victor Luja.
OCTOBER:
Late October is the best time of the year to find frogs in southeast Queensland and I am currently designing a SAVE THE FROGS! Australia Ecotour so I can introduce you to all the awesome frogs I spent time with during my four years of Ph.D. research in Australia. The trip will be co-led by SAVE THE FROGS! Advisory Committee Member David Hall, a biologist, ecological consultant and good friend of mine who joined me on many memorable nights looking for frogs in Australia. Interested in joining us? Please let me know.
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER:
From November 30th to December 8th we will be RE-FROGGING AMERICA by building wetlands in California. We are making connections with groups around the country to expand our wetland program outside of California in 2016, so please let us know if you are a landowner or work for a school that wants a wetland built.
I will also be focused on training people and ensuring that SAVE THE FROGS! has the leadership and systems in place to exist and thrive far into the future.
##############################
WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE 2015!
I look forward to saving the frogs with you in 2015!
As they say in Costa Rica, pura vida y SALVA LAS RANAS!
Dr. Kerry Kriger
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder, Executive Director, Ecologist
kerry@savethefrogs.com