A new effort is underway to help Wayland’s salamanders and frogs cross the road.
This spring, Wayland’s Conservation Department has launched a new effort to protect our town’s frogs and salamanders during their annual spring migration. It’s a volunteer-based project that gives Wayland residents a chance to engage with one of our most remarkable natural phenomena, while contributing much-needed community science observations—and saving some lives along the way.
The effort kicked off last month with a guest talk by Brett Amy Thelen, Science Director at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, New Hampshire, and a regional leader in what are called “salamander crossing brigades.” She joined via Zoom on February 19th to speak to an audience of online and in-person Waylanders about the “Big Night” migrations of spring, and how a few individuals can make a big impact.
Big Night, or more accurately, Big Nights, happens in early spring when thousands of amphibians rouse from their winter woodland burrows and set out towards the vernal pools that serve as their breeding habitat. It’s not actually a single night, but rather, multiple nights where conditions are right: after the ground has thawed, nighttime temperatures are above 40 °F, and it’s raining. Some of these tiny animals travel up to a half-mile, many returning to the same vernal pools in which they were born.
Human development has made this a dangerous journey. Roads divide many vernal pools from woodlands now, and where amphibians migrate across in high numbers, it takes little traffic to kill large numbers at a time. Research in Canada documented the loss of over 30,000 amphibians over a two-mile stretch of road over four years. In western MA, scientists estimated roadkill rates could cause the local extinction of spotted salamanders within 25 years. We don’t see these losses because the soft amphibian bodies wash away by morning, but it’s happening.
For almost two decades, the Harris Center has helped coordinate salamander crossing brigades: local residents and concerned citizens who get outside on cool rainy nights, and literally move amphibians safely across the street, recording what they see. Since 2007, Harris Center brigades have moved more than 85,000 amphibians to safety. And programs like these are happening elsewhere. Acton, Littleton, and Boxborough have coordinated on amphibian crossings since 2019, and reported saving almost 1,000 amphibians in 2024 alone. In time, the data gathered on these nights can lead to more lasting solutions, like in Monkton, VT, where newly installed wildlife tunnels reduced road mortality rates by 93 percent!
Wayland is just starting out with our program, called Ribbit Rangers. It launched last year, but too late for Big Night, so this is its first major event. The department knows some migration crossing sites on Glezen Lane and Pelham Island, but the whole town is dotted with potential and certified vernal pools, wetlands, woodlands, and roads, which means almost every neighborhood needs exploring to identify where crossings are happening.
Big Nights are coming up soon. Last year, migrations wrapped up in the first week of March, but it is completely dependent on weather and ground conditions. The Conservation Department is monitoring forecasts, and preparing to send alerts to our volunteer email list. We invite anyone who is interested to sign up, take a look at our Ribbit Rangers toolbox page on the town website, and email conservation@wayland.ma.us with any questions.
