'Frog Week' part of nonprofit's goal to draw attention to backyard creatures

AAron Capouellez grew up around frogs and toads — from the age of 5, his family had a backyard pond where both amphibians thrived.

It fostered a lifelong love of nature and led Capouellez, 28, to change course in his education and pursue a master’s degree in biology. It also led to Frog Week, a citizen science project that has aimed, for the past five years, to draw attention to the impact pollution and development have on native amphibians.

Frogs and toads are just two of the animals whose story is being told by the nonprofit PA Woods and Forests, where Capouellez is a board member.

“It’s valuable to have them on your property and for them to reproduce and remain in the area,” Capouellez said. “People use pesticides and insecticides because they don’t want pests around their house, but frogs and toads eat a ton of insects. They eat stink bugs, cockroaches, even crop-eating insects like grasshoppers and crickets.”

Several frogs are also indicator species, meaning their presence is evidence of clean, relatively unpolluted water and wetlands.

“They disappear if you have poor water quality or urban sprawl,” Capouellez said. “And I see a lot more use of pesticide now than in the past. When people are trying to wipe out the insects, they’re not always thinking about the animals who rely on them for food.”

Southwestern Pennsylvania’s mining history — and the acid mine remediation projects that have followed in its wake — also have a strong impact on local amphibians. Runoff from elements such as sulfur and aluminum make stretches of many creeks uninhabitable.

“I had a chance to work last year with the Somerset County Conservation District, which had a lot of acid mine treatment sites,” Capouellez said. “We went out at Powdermill Nature Reserve and observed pickerel frogs, which are very sensitive to pollution, moving back into the lower treatment ponds that had the best water quality.”

Capouellez will lead a frog walk at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Powdermill reserve in Rector. It is just one of the events taking place. Another is asking residents to document the frogs, toads and other species they identify in their area. In 2021, participants documented gray tree frogs living in Pennsylvania. In 2023, they discovered Northern map turtles in the state.

Information about local amphibians and reptiles can be submitted to the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey, a database which catalogues species by county. To take part, see PAherpsurvey.org.

Frog Week was also partly inspired by Ace, an 8-year-old American toad Capouellez keeps.

“I want to show off the biggest tank that I was able to build for her,” he said. “It’s sort of modeled on the Laurel Highlands wetlands. I tried to re-create the weather conditions in the tank as best I could.”

Capouellez said observing and interacting with Ace — who he had prior to pursuing his biology degree — is a big part of why he does what he does.

“The experience of watching her and developing a relationship the same way people do with their dogs and cats inspired me to learn a lot more about amphibians, start this nonprofit and focus attention on them along with other backyard creatures,” he said.

For more information, see PAWoodsandForests.com.