Bullfrog Removal Action Team

Oregon Spotted Frog. Image: Leslie Macias

Hidden in the beauty of the Glenwood Valley is one species that has called the valley its home for millennia: the Oregon spotted frog. Its population is at risk, so we stepped in to help.

Partnering with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service at Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MARS initiated the Bullfrog Removal Action Team (BRAT) program in 2020 to work toward restoring the Oregon spotted frog population to its historic state in the Glenwood Valley. Listed as federally threatened and state endangered, the Oregon spotted frog is in decline across its entire native range. It is the most aquatic native frog species in the Pacific Northwest and, as such, plays an important role in the ecology and biodiversity of wetland habitat. Through habitat restoration, predator control, and population modeling, we provide a helping hand to this critically endangered frog species.

Building upon the success of bullfrog removal in the Glenwood Valley, MARS expanded the BRAT program in 2024 to establish a crew based in Stevenson, WA. The new team, in partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, and the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, works within critical habitat of the Western pond turtle, another species vulnerable to American bullfrog invasion.

Between the two BRAT initiatives, our area now hosts the largest bullfrog removal effort globally, and its success in protecting native species and ecosystems becomes more apparent with each passing year. The project is testament to the necessity of collaboration between state, federal, and private partners to support local biodiversity now and into the future.

Program contacts:
Adam Yawdoszyn, Conboy (Glenwood) BRAT Program Lead
adam@mtadamsstewards.org

Jack Fogarty, Gorge BRAT Program Lead
jack@mtadamsstewards.org