Saving The Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs Of Marin County, California
On January 25th, 2023 we held a very special online event all about Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs (Rana boylii) and the efforts underway to protect their populations in Marin County, California. We covered the natural history, ecology and threats to the frogs, the conservation work going on locally, and how you can volunteer.
Photo of Foothill Yellow Legged Frogs in amplexus courtesy of K Marlow, 2019
Watch The Recording
Enjoy this recording of the event! Be sure to subscribe to the SAVE THE FROGS! YouTube Channel.
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About The Presentation
Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs are special because they are only found in isolated ranges in California and nowhere else in the world. They also tell us important things about the health of fast-flowing streams where they live.
Suzanne Whelan, an ecologist and volunteer coordinator at Marin Water, will be teaching us about these amphibians and the volunteer program dedicated to protecting their populations at and around Mt. Tam. You will learn about the importance of wildlife conservation, the biology of the species, and how to identify these animals and others that live in the streams.
Volunteers of Marin Water play a vital role in protecting the species, by monitoring habitat conditions and educating hikers at Little Carson Falls. The falls are a popular hiking destination on the mountain, and an important breeding habitat for the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs. Volunteer docents engage with visitors during the spring when the eggs and tadpoles are at their most vulnerable. The frogs and their habitat can be easily harmed or damaged if hikers or their dogs go into the waters around the falls.
About The Presenter
Suzanne is the Volunteer Coordinator/Ecologist for Marin Water and has been so for 13 years. She holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Education from Lesley University. She finds joy in working with volunteers as experiential education empowers people of all ages with critical thinking, observation, and leadership skills!
Suzanne grew up more attuned to the screeching alarm of trains in Boston than the soothing melodies of plants and animals. A well-timed visit to Colorado gave her the realization she is a “mountain person” and that all people should have access to the circle-of-life-affirming wonders of nature. After two years exploring the Rockies, urban delights drew her to San Francisco where she had the freedom to try variety of jobs including bookkeeper, art gallery intern, web designer, waitress, hotel maid, courier, and gardener.
Connection to nature supports personal and societal health. This perspective led her to “the Bus” where she received her master’s degree in environmental education while living and learning outdoors in Alaska, Hawaii and down the entire East Coast. Back to SF, she became a community organizer, helping neighborhoods rip out concrete and install trees and sidewalk gardens. Since 2009 she has been working on Mt Tamalpais as the Watershed Volunteer Coordinator and Ecologist for Marin Water. Outdoor volunteer programs are so valuable, now more than ever, offering experiences for folks where they can perhaps get dirty, smell the earth, uncover unexpected organisms, flex their muscles while moving under the sun or the rain, and reconsider their connection to place and to each other. She finds joy in mentoring emerging environmental professionals and supporting their priorities for a better world. Exposure to nature- and science-based jobs gives youth the practical and emotional tools for needed for critical thinking, observation, and leadership skills!
“We humans must accept the responsibility for the societal and environmental systems that we are a part of. The environment is not “out there” – it is here, wherever you are – be it the top of Mt. Tam or in the parking lot at the grocery store. All elements are intertwined. Each of us has a role to play in solving the environmental crises. We must dream big, demand big, and help each other do our part every day even if the individual action seems small.”
