[Summit] Frogs in the neighborhood

[libertyliterary at cox.net]

This is an interesting and charming article.
I appreciate the efforts of many of my friends
in the environmental community to re-connect
people with nature - it is a spiritual action 
as well as increasing knowledge and wisdom.

Forgive me if, from my own niche in the 
sustainability picture, I feel the need to add:
Not only are frogs and other amphibians
a delight to observe, and deserving 
life for their own sakes - THEY CONSUME
MILLIONS OF BUGS!  (Same for the birds).

If we allow large numbers of these insect-eating
pals to be lost, we will be dealing with all the 
less appealing species they don't handle for us.

More insecticides vs. happy healthy frogs?
It's a no-brainer which I'd choose!

Just a point in our favor for those who don't
have a heartfelt appreciation for nature's 
importance. 

Blessings,

Liberty G

---- Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com> wrote: 

=============

  
Scott Turner: Inspiring awareness one pond at a time
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, May 17, 2008
SCOTT TURNER

GREG GERRITT showed me the pond in early May. It was one of the last water
bodies left in a river valley of once-vast wetlands, a former cradle of the
American Industrial Revolution now primarily pavement. An environmental
organizer and consultant, Gerritt lived up the hill from the pond. He told
me about a campaign, ³2008 Year of the Frog,² launched to increase awareness
and understanding of the threats to half of the world¹s 6,000 species of
amphibians from disease, pollution and climate change.

Worldwide, zoos were monitoring and/or collecting thousands of threatened
species of amphibians to protect them from the deadly disease-causing
chytrid fungus. Plans called for breeding and raising the frogs in captivity
until the fungus could be stopped.

Gerritt dubbed the water body ³Frog Pond.² Amphibians had become ³a rare
commodity, especially in the city, yet so many bullfrogs lived here,² he
said. The frogs bred in the pond¹s relatively still waters, said Gerritt,
who had also seen up to nine painted turtles sharing one of the logs.

This summer Gerritt will host visitors from Zoo Camp 2008, a conservation
and exploration program of Roger Williams Park Zoo. They will meet at the
pond to observe the wildlife and discuss the rapid loss of frogs, toads,
salamanders, newts and other amphibians.

I re-visited Frog Pond in mid May. To get to the water, I entered through an
ancient gate of iron set into stone columns, and stepped down an elegant,
curving, double-sided stone staircase, where the valley unfolded before me.
As I strolled past the pondweed, cattails, ferns and other shoreline
vegetation, bullfrogs splashed into the pond in amphibian synchronicity.
Looking like commuters clustered beneath green shells instead of umbrellas,
five painted turtles stood bunched on a log.

In the water I saw minnows, large tadpoles, and a selection of striding,
skimming insects. Several orioles, draped in brilliant orange and black,
chased each other overhead.

As I stood between two flowering dogwoods, I noticed a secretive and
solitary green heron motionless in a leafing red maple. When the bird arose,
it unleashed an explosive ³keow² sound before landing on the far shore.
Through binoculars I studied the creature¹s outstretched, velvety brown
neck, which the heron typically kept tucked in tightly to the body.

Leaving the pond felt akin to exiting the Harry Potter ³Wizarding World² for
the non-magical land of ³Muggles.² Outside the gate a lone guardsman stood
in the road, directing a line of artillery trucks out of the Headquarters of
the First Battalion of the 103rd Field Artillery Brigade, Rhode Island Army
National Guard. The air was thick with diesel fumes.

The pond was a three-minute walk into North Burial Ground from the gate on
North Main Street across from the Armory. The trek was an urban expedition
to tranquility, to a sacred site that harbored species becoming rarer by the
day. Here was a wedge of nature that had remained true to its place in a
world where most else had changed.

Scott Turner, a weekly contributor, is a Providence-based nature writer (
scottturnerster at gmail.com).