On a recent Saturday, a small group of volunteers donned chest waders to make sure Metro was doing a good job protecting wildlife habitat at its Willamette Narrows natural area near West Linn.
The volunteers were part of Metro's wildlife monitoring program, which has surveyed four important native amphibian species in the regional government's Natural Areas Program for more than a decade. The monitoring program, which also includes turtle, bird and wildlife study, trains volunteers from all backgrounds to gather important information that can reveal the health of natural area habitats.
"It gets people excited that if they can identify something, then they want to protect it," said Katy Weil, a senior science analyst with Metro who directs the wildlife monitoring program.
Now is the time of year that amphibians lay their eggs, which means a busy time for Tim Brimecombe, a one-time volunteer who now is an assistant in the monitoring program. He leads the field surveys, organizing the 20 or so volunteers who commit to regular visits to different wetlands.
The waders are part of the uniform. They keep the volunteers dry – although there have been a few missteps, and a few sprung leaks – and they came in handy hiking through the poison oak at the Willamette Narrows. Healthy woodlands are equally important to the frogs and salamanders. They need water for their eggs and young, but then migrate into the uplands.
As the group moved slowly across the ponds, they stopped to admire the reproducing branches of a tiny hydra, and the many newts that also were enjoying the sun.
The chance to volunteer and be so close to nature draws many.
Tony Capps heard about the monitoring program from a friend.
"He was describing being out in the ponds and I thought, 'That sounds awesome!'" said Capps, whose work as a molecular biologist often keeps him in the lab. "I like to volunteer, but it doesn't hurt when it's fun. This isn't in the realm of what I studied, but I just like pool stuff."
By identifying and counting the jelly-like egg masses of the Pacific chorus frog, the northern red-legged frog, the long-toed salamander and the Northwest salamander, the volunteers collect data used to track population changes that can reveal the health of wetlands habitat. That information helps guide restoration programs at Metro's natural areas flood plains and wetlands.
As the volunteers moved into the field, they carried red flags to mark egg masses for the northern red-legged frog, a state sensitive species, and yellow flags for the northwestern salamander. The long-toed salamander egg masses were surveyed earlier in the winter. Egg masses of the Pacific chorus frogs, the ubiquitous tree frogs, are everywhere. A few adult frogs even give creaky spring voice.
At the first pond, volunteers quickly found the expected globs of chorus frog eggs with their metallic-hued embryos. The next, larger pond, was more fruitful. An earlier survey had flagged several red-legged frog and northwestern salamander egg masses. The volunteers, stepping carefully to avoid disrupting egg masses – or tripping – planted a dozen more flags.
Flood plains and wetlands are a critical part of Metro's Natural Areas program, which was created by an open spaces, parks and streams bond measure in 1995. With passage of a second bond measure in 2006, Metro has invested a total $360 million in more than 12,000 acres of undeveloped land. A significant portion of that land is along streams and rivers where lowlands had been drained and diked to create farmland.
The Metro Council will ask voters in May to approve a five-year local option levy that would raise about $50 million to maintain its regional parks and its Natural Areas, continuing the restoration work underway.
The levy of 9.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $20 per year for five years.
Half of the money raised would target Natural Areas restoration – the on-going work at streams, woodlands, wetlands and prairies to make sure the restored native habitats thrive. The rest would go to maintaining Metro's regional parks, improving public access, conservation education and community project grants.
Flood plain restoration can require major work to restore the natural system that captures and filters winter rains and floodwaters, provides habitat for wildlife and young fish and eventually dries to repeat the cycle. The earlier bond measures paid for the work needed to stabilize the natural areas, but not for the long term care that they require.
Invasive species, like canary reed grass, must be controlled. Native species are planted and nurtured and sometimes planted again. Selective logging thins woodlands for healthier growth.
At the Multnomah Channel natural area near Sauvie Island, hundreds of acres had been drained for pastureland. Over two decades, Metro and its partners have installed water control structures to mimic historical flooding, returned Crabapple Creek to its old stream bed and planted thousands of trees and shrubs.
Slowly, the wetlands have been restored to a more natural balance, which is building a habitat rich in fish and wildlife. Early research found that holding the water in flood conditions for just a little longer helped the red-legged frog. Since those adjustments were made, the red-legged frog population has flourished.
Scientists have seen similar positive results at the Willamette Narrows wetlands, Weil said.
"At one of the ponds, the northwestern salamander habitat is so good, they literally line up to lay their egg masses," she said.