Foothill Yellow-legged Frog Rana boylii What kids This species lives in can do to streams and rivers with off-channel habitat in help pools or streams. In 1. Learn about frogs. summer, they are likely to be hidden under rocks, 2. Never keep a wild frog as a pet. but wet days can find 3. Know that frogs are important to the food them wandering out of the water. Adult frogs are gray web. They eat lots of insects, including or brown with yellow underbellies and thighs. Their color mosquitoes. Tadpoles keep water clean by helps camouflage them, making them hard to see among the rocks. eating algae. Frogs are also an important food source for other animals: fish, snakes Fun fact: The closest you may come to a yellow-legged and birds. frog is its splash. They will sun on rocks but are quick to take a dive when sensing a predator. 4. Tell people that frogs are cool. They jump. Lives: Western Oregon They splash. They let us know spring has arrived, and they live two lives. For the first Northern Leopard part, they live as tadpoles in water, as adults Frog Rana pipiens they can live on the land and eat a variety of The northern leopard food. frog is disappearing from the Oregon landscape 5. Never release science projects into the wild. due to disease, possible Get a free copy of Wildlife in the Classroom environmental stresses or Laboratory on the Invasive Species section and introduced fish. This of ODFW’s Web site. striking-looking frog has a background color of green or light brown scattered with 6. Learn more on the Save the Frogs Web site, large rounded brown spots bordered in yellow. www.savethefrogs.com Fun fact: They like to forage for food afoot—often far 7. Learn more about the Oregon Conservation from water in fields and prairies. Strategy, www.dfw.state.or.us Lives: Eastern Oregon Twelve native species of frogs and Worldwide, frogs are in trouble and Invader Frog Photo credits: Coastal tailed frog, Brome McCreary; Great basin spadefoot, James Bettaso; Western toad, Kelly McAllister; Woodhousii toads live in Oregon. Many of them many are on the road to extinction. There is one non-native toad, ODFW; Northern Pacific Treefrog, Kelly McAllister; Northern red- legged frog, ODFW; Cascades frog, Kelly McAllister; Oregon spotted are classified as Oregon State Sensitive Habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, invasive frog species frog, Kelly McAllister; Columbia spotted frog, ODFW; Foothill yellow- that is known to survive legged frog, ODFW; Northern leopard frog, USDA Forest Service; species and listed in the Oregon climate change, infectious diseases, the American bullfrog, ODFW. and reproduce very Conservation Strategy as species in pet trade and invasive animal species successfully in Oregon— are all causing problems for frogs. the American bullfrog, need of help—that means they have Lithobates catesbeianus Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife small or declining populations. (formerly Rana 3406 Cherry Avenue NE catesbeiana). Bullfrogs aggressively compete for food Salem, OR 97303-4924 and living space with native frogs. They will eat newborn Phone: (503) 947-6000 the OREGON native turtles and frogs and out produce them. Action: Don’t release bullfrogs—pets or science CONSERVATION projects—into the woods or streams. If you see adults or tadpoles for sale in stores or on a Web site in Oregon, please call your local ODFW office. STRATEGY

Ecoregions in Oregon Oregon’s Frogs and Toads I live in the Willamette Coastal Tailed Frog Gray or olive green, they have very large, golden yellow Northern Pacific Fun fact: The Cascade’s Ascaphus truei eyes set on the sides of the head. They dig burrows to Treefrog Pseudacris scientific name is Rana Valley ecoregion Coastal tailed frogs hibernate for the winter. regilla cascadae—rana is Latin for frog and cascadae live in fast running Fun fact: They are named for the small, black “spade” The Northern Pacific refers to the frog’s streams, often fish-less on the first toe of each hind foot, which allows them to treefrog is the most traditional homeland, the Cascade Mountains. The Willamette Valley ecoregion is the most urban in the state. It is also the fastest- headwater streams, and dig into the ground for shelter. common frog in Oregon; Lives: East and West Cascades can sometimes be found Lives: Eastern Oregon it is the only frog found growing ecoregion—it has nine of Oregon’s ten largest cities. Fertile soil and abundant on damp banks or under in all eight ecoregions. In rainfall make the valley the most important agricultural region in the state. Culturally, Oregon Spotted Frog rocks. They like cold Western Toad dry areas, it is found in the Willamette Valley is a land of contrasts. Bustling urban areas are nestled within Rana pretiosa water and their coloring often matches the color of local Anaxyrus (formerly places high in moisture—marshes, meadows, woodlands productive farmland. Pressure on valley ecosystems from population growth, rock. Populations may be declining due to some forest and brush. The treefrog is a fabulous example of what the Oregon spotted frogs like Bufo) boreas land-use conversion and pollution is likely to increase as more people make management practices and other activities along streams Oregon Conservation Strategy hopes to accomplish for all to keep their feet wet. The western toad is well which alter habitat. This species is found from near sea our common native species—that is, keep them common. They live in wetlands the Valley their home. camouflaged in earth level to high-mountain streams. near ponds, lakes and tones to help it stay safe Fun fact: Pacific treefrogs are often heard on movie slow streams. They eat Learning about the at-risk species and their habitats in your ecoregion gives you Fun fact: This frog doesn’t croak. In fact, it has no voice. from predators. A large soundtracks. You may hear them sing in the spring! beetles, flies, spiders the information you need to get involved in conserving Oregon’s fish and wildlife for Lives: Coast Range, Klamath Mountains and West toad with bumpy skin, it Lives: Throughout Oregon and other insects. They Cascades lives mainly on land in a your enjoyment and that of future generations. are patient predators, range of habitats from Northern Red-legged remaining motionless, until they see something that Rocky Mountain mountain meadows to desert flats. Today the species is Frog Rana aurora Strategy Habitats and Species looks tasty. The frog then lunges and captures the prey Tailed Frog Ascaphus threatened by loss of wetlands, habitat degradation and Red-legged frogs lay their with a sticky tongue. Due to habitat loss this species has Important habitats in the ecoregion include oak woodlands, grasslands (including oak montanus other environmental changes. eggs in wetlands with disappeared from much of its former range in the western savanna), wetlands, riparian and aquatic. Rocky Mountain tailed Fun fact: Western toads have skin secretions that taste clean water beginning in part of the state. frogs are found in the bad and help to deter other animals from eating them. late winter. They spend Strategy species in need of help include western gray squirrel, northern red-legged frog, Fun fact: The species scientific name, pretiosa, means water or close by it. They Lives: Throughout a lot of time on land in foothill yellow-legged frog, northwestern pond turtle, western meadowlark, western are primarily nocturnal, cool damp forests. Adults precious in Latin. Oregon bluebird, Oregon chub, Pacific lamprey and Fender’s blue butterfly. See back of sheet for and prefer to live in cold, have red underlegs, Lives: Eastern Oregon more information. fast-flowing streams Woodhouse’s Toad hence their name. Their decline in the northwest is due, in Columbia Spotted in forests. In the summer, they hide in under rocks in Anaxyrus (formerly part, to habitat loss and invasive bullfrogs. streams. Frog Rana luteiventris Northern red-legged frog: I live in the Bufo) woodhousii Fun fact: It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a red-legged frog Columbia spotted frogs Willamette Valley ecoregion Fun fact: These frogs don’t have any tongues or vocal The Woodhouse’s call. They call underwater. love the water. They Red-legged frogs like cool damp forests and wetlands. sacs, so they don’t call at all. toad appears in only Lives: Western Oregon make their homes in Lives: Eastern Oregon a few areas along the Adults have red underlegs, hence their name. Their or near lakes, ponds, Columbia River, specifically river valleys in sagebrush or Cascades Frog Rana decline in the northwest is due, in part, to habitat loss marshes and slow Great Basin grassland areas. They are light grey to brown generally cascadae and invasive bullfrogs. streams. They can be Spadefoot Scaphiopus marked with contrasting spots. They have bumps on their Cascades frogs have brown, tan or green and intermontanus skin which contain poison glands to discourage predators. gold eyes and long hind are dotted with irregularly-shaped black spots. This species These toads catch insects by night; their call is a loud, long Even though Great legs. They live in moist is being challenged by loss and degradation of wetlands whistle Basin spadefoot toads . mountain meadows and and predation by non-native bullfrogs. Fun fact: It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a red-legged frog call. They call underwater. live in dry grasslands Fun fact: This toad survives hot summer days by burying damp bogs and forests. Fun fact: Columbia spotted frogs like to wander. They and woodlands near itself in the ground with its powerful hind legs. Home is usually a shallow will sometimes migrate seasonally and use different water ponds, like all frogs they Lives: Eastern Oregon pond, marsh or small love the rain and damp stream. Studies indicate that populations are increasingly bodies for breeding, summer feeding and overwintering. weather. They forage for earthworms and insects at night. small, and some populations may be adversely affected by Lives: Eastern Oregon pollution and increasing sunlight levels.