Mood:
sharpTopic: Places to go
I hope everyone had a great holiday season. It's now that time of year to begin getting ready for the 2009 North American Amphibian Monitoring Program calling season. I already have several people signed up to continue volunteering for this year. Please send me an email if you would like to be assigned to a route. As of now, there are many open routes.
This year I am joined by the new state herpetologist Sarabeth Klueh, who will be coordinating NAAMP with me. We are in the process of planning training workshops again for this year. These will most likely be in the first and last weekends of February; we are still working on getting locations booked for those. I will send out an email as soon as those dates and locations are set. These training workshops will be a review of how NAAMP works as well as a refresher on identifying Indiana frogs and toads. Attendance is not required in order to be a volunteer, and you are not obligated to become a NAAMP volunteer by attending the workshop.
Also, I encourage all of you to check out the updated NAAMP website. http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/naamp/index.cfm
One new feature that is really nice is the Route Availability Map. This shows you where the Indiana routes are, and if they currently have volunteers assigned to them. One thing to keep in mind regarding this map is that last year we had a large number of volunteers and several routes had more than one volunteer assigned to it. This may be the case again this year, depending on number of volunteers. The map will say the route is assigned if there is one volunteer assigned to it. If you have any questions about a particular route, feel free to contact me. There are several other new mapping features, and soon there will be a feature where volunteers can look at their past quizzes, data and current quiz status. Remember that the frog call quiz and frog call look-up are helpful tools for practicing your ID skills. If you use Internet Explorer as your browser you may need to change your security settings to Medium in order to view the maps properly. Other browsers, such as Firefox, Safari and Opera are working ok.
I wanted to let you know that we will be holding Frog and Toad ID workshops again this year. These training sessions will consist of two parts. The first will cover what the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program is, and how you can become a volunteer. The second half will teach how to identify Indiana's frogs and toad by call and physical characteristics. Since you are already familiar with NAAMP, much of this will be a review. You are not required to attend this workshop in order to participate in NAAMP. Attendees are not required to become NAAMP volunteers. Anyone who wishes to learn more about Indiana's frogs and toads is welcome. The dates, times and locations for the workshops are listed below. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
All training sessions will be from 2:00pm to 4:00pm EST.
February 7, 2009
Fort Harrison State Park (Park Office)
5753 Glenn Road (located at E 59th St. and N. Post Rd.)
Indianapolis, IN 46216
(317) 591-0904
February 28, 2009
Salamonie Lake
9214 West-Lost Bridge West
Andrews, IN 46702-9731
(260) 468-2125 http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/6743.htm
March 1, 2009
Spring Mill State Park
3333 Hwy 60 E
Mitchell, IN 47446
(812) 849-4129
If you would like to be assigned to a route, or have any questions at all feel free to contact me.
Thanks again for volunteering with NAAMP,
Angie Garcia agarcia@dnr.in.gov
Asst. Herpetologist
IDNR Wildlife Diversity Section
553 E. Miller Drive
Bloomington, IN 47401
