Frog Hunting After Dark: A First Season in the Glenwood Valley
By: Julia Bamford, BRAT Hunting Technician
Each summer, MARS's Bullfrog Removal Action Team (BRAT) heads into the wetlands of the Glenwood Valley to remove invasive bullfrogs and support the recovery of native Oregon spotted frogs. This season, new technician Julia Bamford joined the crew for her first summer working in the Pacific Northwest.
This April, I packed my bags and traveled across the country for the first time, all the way to the West Coast. My friends and family all got a kick out of my summer plans: frog hunting in the PNW.
This was my first time working on a project like this, and a lot was new to me. I had never lived with my coworkers, worked nights, or even worn a pair of waders. While all three have had their ups and downs (like the disappointment of discovering a new hole in your waders 20 minutes into a shift), there has been a lot to love about the work.
One of my favorite parts of being a Hunting Technician has been getting to spend so much time outside at night. While patrolling the valley for bullfrogs, I saw wetland and stream ecosystems in an entirely new way. I got the opportunity to see bitterns up close, hear the thunder of hundreds of roosting blackbirds, get followed by owls, and hear the bugling of elk while I worked. Additionally, as a crew member in the seventh year of this successful project, I am very lucky to say that I got to see more endangered spotted frogs this season than the large majority of people will ever see in their lives.
The incoming cold weather marks the end of frog season, and I am making my way back home after we wrap things up. I will greatly miss getting to regularly experience the nighttime world, and I want to make a point to continue to do so in my free time. While I am heading back east for the winter, I will be returning to the Mt. Adams area next summer as a PCT thru-hiker. I am already looking forward to volunteering for a night of bullfrog hunting and hearing all of the now-familiar sounds of a summer night in the Glenwood valley.
Learn more about the Bullfrog Removal Action Team
Interested in the work behind Julia's nighttime adventures? Explore MARS's Bullfrog Removal Action Team program, learn about the project's progress in the 2026 Columbia River Gorge Fisheries and Watershed Symposium presentation, or read our previous article, Bullfrog Removal from the Glenwood Valley to the Columbia Gorge.
