Amphibians and Libraries

On March 11th, the Mad River Valley Libraries and Friends of the Mad River hosted Zac Cota-Weaver from the North Branch Nature Center to bring an awesome Amphibian Road Crossing training to the MRV. We explored the lives of amphibian species like the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), the Jefferson Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum), and the American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) – among many others. We covered the basics of how our amphibian neighbors live, how to help them cross the road, and how to capture important community science data along the way. If you missed the training, the whole thing can be found online at the NBNC website.

Corrie Miller

After the event, Zac let us know that a TON of volunteers signed up to be Amphibian Road Crossing volunteers here in the Valley. It is exciting to know that there are so many of you out there with curious minds, a willingness to pitch in, and a love for amphibians!
One of the challenges of helping our amphibian neighbors is the fact that they tend to only move around on warm, rainy nights. Springtime offers a handful of those warm, wet nights – but predicting the weather in Vermont ain’t always easy!

Friends and the Mad River Valley Libraries want to invite anyone who attended the training event (or anyone who is interested in amphibians – we just ask that you watch the NBNC training videos first or join up with someone who has) to join us on a warm, wet evening sometime in the next few weeks. We will keep an eye on the weather forecast and when the conditions look good, we will give you a 24 hour notice with the time, location, and parking directions. We hope to see you out there!

What: Amphibian Road Crossing In-Person Event
When: A warm, wet night sometime in April – with 24+ hour notice
Hosted by: Friends of the Mad River, the Mad River Valley Libraries, the Northbranch Nature Center
For: Volunteers who want to learn about their amphibian neighbors and help them safely cross the road!