B.C. frog relocation project aims to better understand conservation practice

froggie

A University of British Columbia researcher spent the summer wading through wetlands near Cranbrook, B-C, following Columbia spotted frogs fitted with trackers to understand how to save them.
    
Megan Winand is one of the first scientists to study the impact of mitigation translocation, when animals are moved because of construction or development projects.
    
The practice gained attention during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, when about one thousand amphibians had to be moved out of the way of an upgrade to the Sea-To-Sky Highway.
    
Winand says frogs are an important indicator species and if they aren't doing well, it may be because the ecosystem isn't doing well.
    
Her project involved using radio trackers and transponder tags that were fitted like tiny backpacks on the frogs to track their survival and movements.
    
Winand completed her field research in August, and while she says it's too soon to predict the results, she hopes her research begins to answer some of the ongoing questions about the translocation mitigation.