Beach Plum. Photo Credit, Patty Love. Maybe this dream will come true for the Arboretum after all.
Kudos and a flowery Tribute to the Village of Pittsford Mayor, Board of Trustees, Clerk, Deputy Clerk, DPW and Coding Supervisors and Former Mayor, Rob Corby, Founder and President of Friends of the Arboretum..
Breaking News!
On July 16 at the Village of Trustees Board Meeting, Mayor Alysa Plummer, Trustee Lisa Cove, Trustee Lili Lamphear, Trustee Justin Leitgeb and Trustee David Marshall, with the support of DPW supervisor Zach Bleier and Building Inspector Steve Lauth, and former Mayor Rob Corby, founder and president of Friends of the Village Arboretum, under the watchful eye of Village Clerk Dorothea Ciccarelli, unanimously approved the installation of up to three vernal ponds in the Robert C Corby Arboretum and Wildlife Sanctuary without requiring planning board review!! Kudos and thanks to each and every one of them.
The caveat is that the project must be completed within a year, with funds raised by A Frog House. So, our work is cut out for us.
Fundraising Needs
All of the labor and cost of transforming the gardens at 65 State Street into a wildlife sanctuary and suitable habitat has been at my personal expense, although we regularly use them for demonstration and educational activities.
To date, our small budget from limited income has gone to little events, directed to educating about the threats to frog populations such as habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and invasive species, and advocating and collaborating for positive action.
However, this positive and seminal decision by the board means that we need to set aside a large budget to complete a large project, with all of our events and efforts this year geared toward financing at least the first vernal pond, while still covering our basic operating costs.
Each pond comes at a modest cost of $8,000, including liner and geo-textile pads, 12 inch landscape spikes and washers for anchorage, excavator hours, excavator cost, wheat and straw, miscellaneous supplies, native plant and seed purchase, and most importantly, construction supervision by Tom Biebighauser.
If we raise $1,000 every month from August through March, we can have one new pond in April. Double or triple that, and each and every contributor can be proud to have had a role in improving and beautifying our part of the planet.
Benefits of Vernal Ponds
This project is perfect as a focus to deepen our educational programs, increase community engagement, and strengthen partnerships with other environmental organizations.
Vernal ponds, aka ephemeral wetlands, provide habitat for the wood frog, spotted salamander and fairy shrimp, which cannot thrive in deeper, colder ponds where fish and other species would prey on them. The will improve viewing opportunities for spring peepers, chorus frogs and gray tree frogs, as well as painted turtles, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Canada Geese, Great Blue Herons, Egrets and Red-wing Blackbirds.
The shore lines will be perfect soil for planting native plants and flowers that would attract bats and butterflies, especially Monarch Butterflies. The IUCN status of Monarch Butterflies changed in 2023 from endangered to vulnerable, thanks to increased awareness of the importance of protecting milkweed, the only plant on which they lay eggs.
The presence of dragonfly, damselfly and salamander larvae, water boatman and striders, fly-over swallows, bats and adult dragonflies, not to mention our heroes the Frogs and Toads, would provide mosquito control throughout the surrounding community in as little as a year, to the point that our wetlands can properly be called mosquito population “sinks”.
Besides providing habitat, wetlands improve water quality, recharge ground water, retain nutrients improving the food web, cool the environment, and provide erosion control, flood protection, and great recreation and educational opportunities.
How Did this Happen?
Yes, in fact, although our Sunday sign says Psychiatry 5 cents, I am still practicing psychiatry 3 days a week. Having Attention Deficit Disorder, I naturally have many interests; art, gardening, socialization, advocacy, collaboration and education, and now frogs!
Why frogs? I don’t know exactly, as I didn’t really get interested in them until for some reason I started painting images of them in the art studio. https://afroghouse.org/category/mystical-musings/
Then my husband gave me an article called The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert, in the May 18, 2009 issue of The New Yorker. I was struck by the contrast between how many millenium (250) these tiny and sturdy creatures have survived so many natural disasters, even before and after the dinosaurs, and the rapidity with which modern humanity is wiping them out, and write about it frequently.
Within a year, I joined SAVE THE FROGS!, started writing and painting the illustrations for my children’s book Froggy Family’s First Frolic (pictured below on the shelves), eventually went to the wrong side of Costa Rica to see the Red Eyed Tree Frogs, the featured species in the book, and by 2017 went on my first SAVE THE FROGS! Ecotours.
A Frog House is Born
This was the same fall that our daughter Lindsay Graham came to live in the area, at a lovely house on the Erie Canal with a 100 square foot structure that was in bad disrepair. Even though she was renting, my first impulse was to tackle the gardens, filled with chemicals, black mulch and sparse non native plantings of flowers and shrubs. Two of the slopes to the canal path were filled with weeds.
To make a long story short, when fall came, it seemed appropriate to fix up the tiny shed for my frogabilia and realize a purpose of fostering a deeper appreciation for the ecological importance of these vital creatures. The only way to ward off anxiety is to take action, and so I wanted to address the alarming decline in amphibian populations, and encourage others to protect frogs and their habitats. Such efforts include restoring wetland, pond, and land habitats that are chemical free and filled with native plants, shrubs and trees. We hope to show people how they can contribute in small and bigger ways.
We formally opened A Frog House on October 21, 2018, had our first event on April 28 in 2019 for Save The Frogs Day, as well as 3 or 4 more that year, and formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) on April 13, 2020. We plowed through the pandemic, kept up the website, blogs, newsletters, and activities. Last year I signed up to go to a renovation of a wetland in Indiana where Tom Biebighauser, wetland expert, was once again supervising a project. I’d read about his activities with SAVE THE FROGS! for years. But since it turned out that fate couldn’t take Margot to Tom, Margot invited Tom to come here.
A Dream Beginning to Come True
In a big leap, A Frog House obtained the Tom’s services. He has worked for the past 35 years as a wetland expert, to give a presentation to the board on April 18, 2023, survey the property, and put together a detailed 55 page plan as to exactly how to create three new vernal ponds in the Robert C. Corby Arboretum and Wildlife Sanctuary. This plan went before the Pittsford Village Board of Trustees on June 11 and again on July 16.
Once again, we are delighted and grateful that village representatives acted so conscientiously and promptly, and, in the words of Lisa Cove, “let the fundraising begin!”
Dreaming On
Pollinator Garden at the Erie Canal Nature Preserve, just east of site for future historic barn. Photo Credit Robert Corby.
Who knows? Maybe one day A Frog House will have a more permanent and larger facility on the canal that can accommodate more visitors and educational programs, and provide a dedicated space for hands-on learning, research, and community events. I’m dreaming of space in the future barn in the Erie Canal Nature Preserve on the canal next to the pollinator garden. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Be a Part of Our Dream
You can participate and donate in so many ways.
- Sunday afternoons between 1 and 5 pm through October. Visit A Frog House and our gardens. Receive a gift in return for a donation.
- August 11 from 4 to 7 pm. Our 6th annual Froggy Family Fun(d)raiser Birthday Party.
- September 24 at 7 pm. A presentation by Tom Biebighauser on at an event at and co-sponsored by the Village of Pittsford with A Frog House.
- November 8, from 6 to 10 pm. Our 2nd annual Gala Fundraiser.
- December 3, all day. Participate on Giving Tuesday, and pick A Frog House as your charity of choice.
- April 28, 2025, and a few days before and after. Help us build a pond or two or three.
- Text FROG to 585 733 0563 (or email me of course) if you wish to speak to me about arranging a special garden or birthday party for your friends and family.
- Pledge to raise money on behalf of the Vernal Ponds through your Scout Troop, School Environmental Club, Garden Club, etc.
- Spread the word through your website and social media to friends, family and groups you think would be interested.
- Volunteer!
- Donate!
