The GFoundation wetlands are home to the Boreal Chorus Frog. Not yet considered ‘threatened’, this tiny frog is a barometer of health in wetlands and is an important food source for other species.
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A project supported by the Alberta Rural Restoration Stewardship Program (RRSP) helped identify an extensive frog & amphibian habitat at GFoundation, one that connects to several other properties and beyond.
“Our efforts to improve a deteriorating environment for frogs and amphibians at the water’s-edge became more complicated by emerging problems, such as invasive grasses, dwindling insect populations, recuring droughts, water fluctuations, among other environmental problems”, says land steward Judith Basisty.
“Mr Froggy went a-courting” – see bottom
“The sites targeted by the Project (grassy water’s-edges, in photo below) harbour two species of frogs, garter snakes and salamanders, all of which must evade predators, such as waterfowl and small land animals that range across kilometers of interconnected wetlands, crossing property lines in the region and spilling into both Beaver and Camrose county.”
Basisty emphasises that preventative or corrective measures are needed throughout the whole area, not just at a single water’s-edge.”
The County of Beaver provided initial funding to follow up on the RRSP project. A workshop is planned for 2026, where landowners and practioners will join a walk-about, followed by a brainstorming session to identify management priorities at the GFoundation site, as well as habitat-wide approaches.
Win a Christmas jackpot for the frogs – see bottom
The funding received by the landowner from RRSP enabled the development of seven invasive grass suppression experimental sites, preparations for planting of native plants, trees & shrubs. GFoundation volunteers and neighbours enabled the building of nine interlaced branch/trunk structures to foster insect populations on the site, which will also give young frogs a place to hide from predators.
Willow were also planted along the site edge, with spruce amidst a deteriorating adjoining understory. One site was built for future monitoring of the frogs, with two additional locations being identified.
The Boreal Chorus Frog and other species are characteristic of the wetlands that surround landowners within the Beaver Hills Biosphere. Yet, landowners are only now beginning to understand their importance to the ecological composition of their land and the broader wetland areas.
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