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Thank you to all the volunteers who helped monitor wetland pools and ephemeral ponds for salamanders. It was, as always, an exciting time trying to guess when the salamanders would start moving from their winter spots to the breeding ponds.
A number of volunteers from last year participated:
Carl, as always, was our anchor pin in the Shivering Sands area of Door County. For the first time he had Spotted Salamanders in addition to the Blue-Spotted Salamanders that are usually present, and was glad to see the wood frog population rebound (347 of them).
Addie and her son were able to coordinate their schedule with the salamanders at Bubolz this year after a slow start in 2009, but still didn't get any in their traps. They did find plenty of minnows and bugs to make it interesting enough that they monitored for both an early and later rain period.
Jess tried again at Mosquito Hill, but the ephemeral ponds dried up before the spring rains, so no luck there. She'll persist next year to try to locate the breeding spot for the salamanders they know are present.
Stacy says Onedia had success this year, so sometimes it pays to keep trying.
Juniper tried a new site: the Chaffey Waterfowl Production Area, near Gillett. Only 1 of the 5 ponds had salamanders. She was intrigued by the tiny fairy shrimp in several of the ponds.
We were happy to welcome a number of new monitors:
Cody and Adam made a dedicated team, monitoring at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary for a full month, but just weren't able to trap any salamanders. The geese took issue with the traps, so this site likely won't be easily surveyed.
Andrea risked slipping in over her boot tops to monitor at Barkhausen. No salamanders, but there were green frog tadpoles.
Phil had more Spring Peepers than salamanders in his traps at Pope Lake State Natural Area--but at least he had salamanders! (Blue-Spotted).
Chris and Anna monitored the Rat River Wildlife Area. Plenty of mud minnows, some sticklebacks were found in the traps, chorus frogs calling nearby, and a large wood frog egg mass. With this first year's experience, they now have a good idea of what to look for, for next year's site.
Ashley monitored 1000 Islands at Kaukauna. The traps were trashed by someone the first night, but she repaired them and persisted. Then the dam released a lot of water and the pools that were isolated became part of the river. No salamanders found, but she'll be checking for other possible sites for next year.
When the statewide results are compiled, we'll get the results here.
Background
2008 marked the first year of the Wisconsin Salamander Survey (WSS,) a joint initiative of the Wisconsin Audubon Council, Inc. and the Citizen-based Monitoring Network of Wisconsin. Nearly all of the 52 volunteer citizen monitors were members of one of 15 Audubon chapters throughout the state. Nine chapter coordinators worked directly with their monitors to supply them with traps, data sheets, training information, and answer questions or concerns. The Wisconsin Audubon Council received a small grant from the Citizen-based Monitoring Network of Wisconsin to pay for project expenses. This survey brings attention
to these secretive creatures, gives wildlife
managers much-needed distribution data, and
promotes the value of wetlands and woodland
pools.
Habitat
If you would like to know whether you have good wetlands for salamanders, check out Maine Audubon. They received a Together Green grant to get citizens involved in vernal pool/ephemeral pond protection. They have several well-written guides linked on the right sidebar of this site. | 
