A Frog House is working with the Town of Pittsford in 2022 regarding the Erie Canal Nature Preserve ponds and wetlands.
Local Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Conservation Director, Roger Downs, has sent out a statewide plea for members to sign a petition regarding saving wetlands.
Mr. Downs writes “Healthy wetlands are critical to New York’s defense against the worst impacts of climate change. Swamps, marshes, bogs, fens and wet clay meadows mitigate flooding impacts, filter surface waters of pollutants, recharge drinking water, sequester greenhouse gases, and provide critical habitat to aquatic and terrestrial species alike. But in recent years, we have seen unprecedented development pressure on these great natural areas as pandemic migration has caused a real estate boom in some of our most sensitive areas. With gaping holes in both federal and state wetlands protections, New York is in a poor position to take on this new development without major losses to critical natural infrastructure.”
Humans have drained, filled, and dumped in ponds and wetlands. In 200 years, a third of the wetlands in the lower 48 states was destroyed. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We continue that decimation, and at an ever more rapid pace.
If our current water sources are not maintained, they’ll become polluted with runoff (eutrophication), fill in quickly with invasive plants, and without necessary oxygen, native flora and fauna die. (see illustrations below). The water dries up.
Ours is one small voice from a tiny nonprofit organization registered as Frog Project House, Inc., and we have mighty local plans.
As part of our effort, A Frog House is bringing in the founder of the international voice for frog education and protection, SAVE THE FROGS!, Dr. Kerry Kriger, to help with our programming this year.
Just three years after founding STF!, Kerry was instrumental in bringing back the Northern Leopard Frogs to the Columbia Valley, supporting the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners in 2011.
True, Northern Leopard Frogs are not endangered in New York State, but we need to take local preventative action (worth a pound of curative) to defend our corner of the planet from carelessness and climate disaster.
We’d love your assistance and support. In tumultuous times, resistance is high but perseverance is essential. You can make a difference!