Project Summary:
The purpose of this project was to design and construct Columbia Spotted Frog habitat within the Reese River watershed. Habitat requirements for the spotted frog include, but are not limited to, shallow sloping banks on the south-facing sides of ponds which provide optimal breeding habitat as well as large woody debris within the pond to escape predation. Both of these habitat features were designed and implemented into all constructed ponds. Spotted frog hibernacula habitats include deep areas of ponded water or rivers where water is not likely to freeze during the winter months. Often, spotted frogs will over winter only in ponds that have sufficient hibernacula habitat. Therefore, several ponds were created for this purpose.
Twenty ponds were constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes. In general, two sizes of ponds were designed: 1) smaller ponds (approximately 10’ X 20’) were constructed within the upper portion of the project location and 2) larger ponds (approximately 30’ X 70’) were constructed within the lower portion of the project location. A variety of shapes including oxbows were built to mimic the variety observed in riverine ponds found in nature.
Project Update:
Project completed in October 2004.
