Warts and all

The Wyoming toad has been extinct in the wild since 1984; however, this does not stop many from doing what they can to reintroduce the species into the environment.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) ran a population survey for the Wyoming toad. According to Lizzy Mack, Wyoming Toad Biologist and Project Manager for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the toads are being reintroduced in only three different locations in the entire world. "That's it. These three places are the only place they exist in the world," stated Mack, "It's pretty much the most endangered amphibian in North America."

The annual week-long survey is completed to measure vitals of each toad in the region. Many of the volunteers that participated this week were from government agencies such as the USFWS, the Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming Game & Fish.

Volunteers were divided into two-three people per group and would be given a zone to walk through. When a toad was found while slowly walking through each zone, the toad would be held for approximately 10 minutes while basic information is gathered about the toad.

Mack points out where the survey was taking place, is where the last "wild" Wyoming toads were found. "We are at Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge which is where the last wild population of toads was found, but they eventually got down to 10 individuals. What they did was took those individuals and took them into captive breeding. Then the toad was declared extinct in the wild."

The USFWS took over at this point, taking the toads and starting captive breeding, a process where they attempt to restore the population in captivity to ultimately release in the wild.

According to Mack, it is believed that there are two major causes that contributed to the decline of the Wyoming Toad. "Lots of factors, but the two major ones are chytridiomycosis, which is a really pathogenic fungal disease that's wiping out a lot of amphibians and habitat loss, which is the same story for so many species."

Originally, in attempt to regenerate the released population, tadpoles were placed in three locations. "We have three sites: we have Mortenson Lake which we have now, and then two private properties that are under Safe Harbor agreements which also have toads released at their properties," Mack stated.

After a couple years monitoring the success rate of these tadpoles growing into adult toads, a disheartening data feedback emerged. According to Jason Palmer, Wyoming toad Biologist for the USFWS, a minute percentage of the released tadpoles were released. "Once you release a tadpole, you have maybe 1-3 percent of that making it to adulthood," states Palmer. "So it's a real low percentage and we have released quite a few tadpoles in the past and we have not seen the success we would like to see"

Seeing the poor survival rate of the toads and how long it would take to receive that data, they decided to take a different approach―they switched strategies and began releasing adult toads to see if there would be improvement.

"You are waiting three years to see if you have any success if you release it as a tadpole. So that's why we are shifting the program to more of a 'lets release the adults and see if we can get more results right away'," Palmer said.

This is the second year that there has been a shift to monitoring adult-sized toads. After completing the survey that is done twice this year, the first one being last week, they will determine whether the survival rate changed.

"This is just our annual population survey," Mack said. "So we monitor both population size, sex ratio's, chytrid infection levels so send swabs from every toad we catch to a lab and they process them to see if they infected with chytrid and they do a zoo spore count."

Cooperating agencies involved with the project include Wyoming Game and Fish, the University of Wyoming, Wyoming National Diversity Database, Florida International University, the Laramie Rivers Conservation District and eight different zoo's from across the country.

The captive breeding facility is at Red Buttes Environmental Lab through the University of Wyoming (UW). According to Palmer, the USFWS has a cooperative agreement with UW so that the USFWS can be closer to Albany County. "So the University has really been very supportive for letting us stay there and raise our toads," said Palmer.

The second captive breeding facility is the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery in Saratoga, Wyo.

Palmer and Mack think that collaboration is what has made this program so successful, from the organizations directly contributing to the agencies volunteering their time to gather this essential data. According to Palmer, by next year, the data that is collected with this survey will help determine the success of the adult toad captive release.

For more information on the Wyoming Toad, go to http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/amphibians/wyomingtoad/.