This project began in June 1998 and 105 sites were surveyed in August and September of 1998 and 1999.  These sites span an area from the Canada/U.S.A. border to north of Golden, British Columbia.  Visual encounter surveys were used to locate amphibians and reptiles.  These are performed by walking along the shore of a pond, usually just out of the water.  Amphibians or reptiles were seen basking or, more often, as they jumped into the water.  A variety of data was collected for each site including the species and number of amphibians and reptiles encountered.

Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla) (55 individuals at 1 site), Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) (14 individuals at 9 sites), Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans) (5 individuals at 5 sites), and Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) (37 individuals at 5 sites).  No amphibians or reptiles were detected at 23 of the sites surveyed.

Several methods were used to educate the public and solicit Northern Leopard Frog sightings.  An 11”x17” colour poster was distributed asking the public to report sightings of Northern Leopard Frogs.  The poster had a large photo of a Northern Leopard Frog and smaller photos of more common amphibians for comparison along with phone and email contact information.  One hundred ninety of these posters were distributed around the Columbia Basin.  Twenty-four sightings were reported by phone or email.  Of these, 11 were visited to investigate further. 

Community survey days were organized in Golden, Invermere and Cranbrook.  These involved going out to a local wetland with members of local naturalist or environmental groups and the public to talk about Northern Leopard Frogs, global amphibian declines and how to search for and recognize Northern Leopard Frogs.  We then proceeded to survey a section of a wetland as a group.  A total of 26 people attended these events.

Public presentations were also made to a variety of audiences including the Rocky Mountain Naturalists in Cranbrook, a grade 4/5 class in Windermere Elementary School, two groups of grade 12 students interested in careers in Biology at the "Biologists and Biodiversity" conference and several groups of students from grades 2 to 4 at the Living Landscapes display in Invermere during the Wings Over the Rockies Bird Festival.  This project was also profiled at a weeklong art show at the Pynelogs gallery in Invermere featuring the work of artist Marie McLaughlin.  In an effort to bridge the artificial gap between art and science she created art related to four different wildlife research projects in the area, including this project.  Information about the project was on display and there was an opportunity to talk to people about the project.  Another presentation about this project was also made at the Living Landscapes conference in Fort Steele.  In addition to this, articles and/or photographs appeared in 5 local or regional newspapers.

An unexpected result was the detection of malformed frogs at two sites.  Five Pacific Chorus Frogs and one Western Toad were found at one site and one Columbia Spotted Frog was found at another site.  All of these individuals had malformed hind limbs.  The occurrence of deformities in amphibians is a relatively recent discovery.  The cause or causes of these deformities are still a topic of much debate and a great deal of work is focussing on this problem.  Current hypotheses include environmental contaminants and trematode parasites.  There is also some natural background level of malformities in amphibians but this cannot explain all of the cases.  At these two sites where malformities were observed there is no obvious source of environmental pollution and it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the cause of these malformed amphibians.  

Despite no Northern Leopard Frogs being located, this project was definitely successful in raising public awareness about the status of Northern Leopard Frogs and amphibian declines in the area by highlighting a local example of a relatively well known global problem.  The posters combined with the newspaper articles and public presentations reached many people and resulted in a great deal of interest and enthusiasm.  These media were also very effective at soliciting sightings.

We learned a great deal about the distribution of some of the other amphibian and reptile species.  Data such as this will be critical to monitoring any of these species in the future.  Had this type of information existed for the distribution of Northern Leopard Frogs before their decline, it would be extremely helpful in trying to locate them now.

The decline of Northern Leopard Frogs is part of a worldwide phenomenon of amphibian declines.  It is unknown exactly what effect the disappearance of this frog had on the broader ecosystem related to its role as a predator of insects or as prey for other species.  These amphibian declines are a perplexing issue both from the perspective of biodiversity conservation and the implications for human health.   

The future of Northern Leopard Frogs in the Columbia Basin and the rest of British Columbia will undoubtedly involve intensive efforts if this species is going to recover or even persist.  For the present it appears that Northern Leopard Frogs are either absent from this part of the Columbia Basin or, at the very best, are very rare.