K9 Conservationists

(note This Is Requiring Any Commas to Be Removed as They Were Flagged as Invalid Characters. Please Excuse the Resulting Sentence Structures)conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge (CLNWR) Supports One of the Largest Remaining Populations of the Federally Threatened Oregon Spotted Frog (osf). This Population Has Long Been Imperiled by Invasive American Bullfrogs. Bullfrog Impacts on Osf Are Well Documented With Predation Driving Steep Population Declines Across the Species Range. Since 2020 the Clnwr Bullfrog Eradication Program Has Removed More Than 100 000 Bullfrogs Across All Life Stages. This Effort Has Already Produced Measurable Conservation Gains. Osf Egg Mass Counts at the Refuge Have Increased Nearly Tenfold Since Removals Began and Reached Their Highest Levels in Over 15 Years.now the Program Has Advanced Beyond Large Scale Removals to a More Labor Intensive Stage of Preventing Recruitment of New Bullfrogs Into the Population. With Adult Bullfrogs Increasingly Scarce Technicians Spend Substantially More Time Locating the Few Remaining Individuals and Egg Mass Removal Has So Far Occurred Only Opportunistically. Addressing Recruitment Is Critical Because a Single Female Bullfrog May Lay Up to 20 000 Embryos Which Can Hatch in Just Days.this Project Proposes to Integrate Conservation Detection Dogs Into the Ongoing Bullfrog Eradication Program to Target These Time Sensitive Life Stages. Detection Dogs Trained to Locate Bullfrog Egg Masses and Early Season Active Bullfrogs Especially Gravid Females Prior to Breeding Will Provide a Highly Efficient Tool to Prevent Recruitment. a Pilot Effort at Clnwr Has Already Demonstrated That Dogs Can Reliably Detect Bullfrog Egg Masses in Natural Environments. Incorporating Detection Dogs at This Pivotal Stage Will Substantially Increase Efficiency Reduce Labor Demands and Strengthen the Long Term Durability of Bullfrog Eradication Efforts. This Will Ultimately Ensure Continued Recovery of the Oregon Spotted Frog at Conboy Lake.