The St. Charles County Parks and Recreation Department is teaming up with the Saint Louis Zoo to offer FrogWatch USA training for those interested in learning about the wetlands in their communities by reporting on the calls of local frogs and toads.

The training will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Friday, March 16 at Broemmelsiek Park near Defiance.

You don’t have to be a frog or toad expert to be a FrogWatch USA volunteer. All you need to do is have an interest in frogs and toads, join the Saint Louis Zoo’s FrogWatch Chapter, participate in our volunteer training session and commit to monitor a site of your choosing for at least three minutes twice throughout the breeding season—of February through August.

Be a part of this monitoring program to become directly involved with gathering information that can ultimately lead to practical and workable ways to stop amphibian decline.

FrogWatch USA is a long-term citizen science monitoring program that was started by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1998 to report on observation of frogs and toads throughout the US, and is sponsored by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Visit https://www.aza.org/become-a-frogwatch-volunteer/ to learn more, or contact Michael Dawson, naturalist instructor at the Saint Louis Zoo, at dawson@stlzoo.org or 314-646-4551.

The volunteer training session is free, but pre-registration is requested. Call the parks department at 636-949-7535 or go online at http://bit.ly/2mSB5ki to register. Broemmelsiek Park is located at 1795 Highway DD near Defiance.