May 25, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

For the love of toads

by Carol Palinkas

Peter Drekmeier recalls that as a child growing up in Palo Alto, frogs and toads were major players in the back-yard bio-system. In fact, they were almost a nuisance.

"It was hard to go to school because the toads were everywhere," he said. "We had to be really careful not to step on them."

He doesn't take them for granted anymore. The toads, along with frogs and other amphibians, have largely disappeared from the lower watershed of Matadero Creek and Drekmeier is determined to do what he can to restore their numbers.

The decline of the toads is not just a local issue; amphibians are disappearing throughout the world. Scientists and biologists cite a number of reasons for their decrease, including global warming and climate changes, pesticide drift and even parasites.

Beau Goldie, deputy operating officer for the Water District, thinks several variables, including human population growth and pollution from storm water discharge, could be factors.

Drekmeier points to the introduction of non-native species like the bullfrog, a native east of the Rockies that has displaced California's red-legged tree frog wherever it has been introduced, and the switch from chlorine to chloramines in the water system.

"Chloramine is known to be harmful to fish and amphibians," Drekmeier said. "When they started putting it in the water in Palo Alto, they warned people that if you were a fish owner or had amphibians, you had to treat the water first. It's not necessarily a cause of the amphibian decline in the Palo Alto area, but it definitely is a chemical not compatible with amphibians."

He also theorizes that the vertical floodwalls erected by the Santa Clara Valley Water District in the 1980s may have prevented the toads from either leaving or returning to the creek to breed.

Whatever the reason, Drekmeier says there's cause for concern.

"In a lot of ways on a grand scale, they are the canary in the coal mine that warns us that our environment is not healthy," he said.

Goldie said he is not aware of any programs to restore the frog population in Matadero Creek, and they don't keep statistics on the population, but the district has a program on the board's agenda that would focus on providing restoration of habitat, although it is not specific to frogs. He added that the water district is open to suggestions.

Additionally, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that flood maintenance work did not pose a threat to any critical habitat in the area, according to Jason Christie, engineering unit manager for the water district.

Realizing that the water district and the county government can do only so much and that resources are tight, Drekmeier is working on his own to find a replicable method of restoring frog and toad numbers.

To that end, he has set up a backyard laboratory of sorts at his parents' home, complete with a pond and a nursery, in the hope that he can encourage the toads to return to the pond to breed and replenish the population. So far, only some of the toads have been cooperative.

He's tried a few methods of breeding the wet and wild creatures. First, he introduced tadpoles to a terrarium, where they developed into toads. He kept them safe for about a year, and then introduced them to the pond, hoping they would return to breed. It didn't quite work that way, as most of the toads became lunch for the raccoons and cats.

In addition, the number of toads was too small: About 99 percent of amphibians in the wild get lost to predators, so the 1 percent that survives has to be a significant group.

Drekmeier next tried introducing four of the toads to his nursery, a large kidney-shaped pool complete with greenery and an access ramp, covered in chicken wire for protection. The tenacious raccoons still found their way in, and once again the toads became part of the food chain. Drekmeier is not discouraged, however, seeing this as a work in progress.

"The plan changes and evolves. For me, it's an interest in wildlife," he said.

While the toad experiment is still ongoing, Drekmeier is also working with about 200 tree-frog tadpoles. They're smaller and grow faster than toads, which may give them a better chance against predators.

Drekmeier has a long history of environmental activism, working on Earth Day 1990 and numerous environmental groups, including Bay Area Action, the Sierra Club and Environmentalists Against War. He began Stanford's Open Space Alliance in 1999 to secure permanent protection of the Stanford hills, and was one of three co-directors of Acterra in 2000.

He is now involved with People for Land and Nature -- PLAN -- working on open space protections for Santa Clara County.

Drekmeier's enthusiasm for the frogs and toads is palpable. Indeed, the young boy who used to explore the Santa Cruz Mountains looking for snakes and frogs still peeks out occasionally, enjoying every minute of his time in his parents' backyard.

And there may be hope yet. Neighbors recently spotted two very large toads in their backyard. After years of no sightings at all, it's very likely they're part of the original group, the Adam and Eve of the frog world.

Editorial Intern Carol Palinkas can be reached at cpalinkas@paweekly.com.

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