Conservation Volunteers get trained for first annual ‘Save the Frogs Day’

Midland, ON – The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) partnered with the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond/FrogWatch-Ontario program for a Conservation Volunteers event that trained participants to recognize frogs and frog calls for monitoring purposes. Thirty-two volunteers turned on Saturday in preparation for the beginning of frog monitoring season, just in time for the first annual ‘Save the Frogs Day’ today.

“The data that the Conservation Volunteers will gather this spring and summer will help not only with our own property monitoring, but will add to the FrogWatch counts,” said Kristyn Ferguson, Conservation Biologist with NCC’s Ontario Region. “After the training, volunteers saw Wood Frogs and Bullfrogs. It was a great day!”

The benefits of environmental volunteering for participants has been well-documented including improved mental wellbeing and physical health, and increased connectedness to nature. It also has the ability to empower individuals to make environmentally beneficial changes in their day-to-day lives.

NCC’s Conservation Volunteers program engages people in the protection of Canada’s biodiversity while providing a meaningful, hands-on educational experience in ecologically significant natural areas. Carefully designed projects ensure that volunteers’ time is dedicated to critical conservation action. To find out more about how to become involved with NCC’s volunteer events, please visit the Conservation Volunteers website at www.conservationvolunteers.ca.

Frogwatch-Ontario is part of the national initiative, Frogwatch-Canada administered by Environment Canada. The Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond is the provincial coordinator of the project. Frogwatch-Ontario is a partnership between Adopt-A-Pond, Environment Canada’s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) and the Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC).

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is Canada’s leading land conservation organization. Since 1962, NCC has helped to protect more than 2 million acres (800,000 hectares) of ecologically significant land nationwide.

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Contact:

Kristyn Ferguson       
Conservation Biologist, Ontario Region
1-877-343-3532, ext. 222
kristyn.ferguson@natureconservancy.ca