FROGS
From A to Z

What Can We Do To Help?

Have we convinced you to take a fieldtrip to your nearest pond, offering at least your respect if not your humblest apologies and promises of future friendship? Would it help to hear about the compounds derived from pond scum that may be able to fight Alzheimer’s? Or that the same slimy pond residue might be a potent source of bio-fuel to help replace the hazards of oil?

Wouldn’t we all like to leave the world a better place, to earn a nameplate on one of the benches in Mother Nature’s cathedral? Here are some ideas for showing our ponds a little more love.

Protect a Pond

•  Join or create a group that provides stewardship and protection for one or many of the ponds in your area.
•  Use biodegradable products that won’t kill what’s living (everything gets washed into our waters eventually).
•  Avoid the use of anything with added phosphates (at one time, they even made your whites whiter). Check your dishwasher detergent!
•  Use compost instead of synthetic fertilizer in your lawns and gardens.
•  Take a little extra time to dispose of motor oil, batteries, electronics, paints, and other household chemicals and equipment properly. Your hometown is likely to have an annual cleanup day to make your job easier.
•  Drive less, if you can. Our roads are covered in poisons that are washed into nearby wetlands and rivers.
•  Talk to your local and state legislators about improving local wetlands protection.
  

Build Your Own Pond

If we’ve built over them, washed them out, killed them, and filled them in – and we did – we can certainly recreate any number of ponds ourselves. The endangered stoneflies and frogs will never know the difference between a kettle pond 100,000 years old and a plastic-bottomed pond you assemble in your backyard. A little water, some plants, an object or two to give the pond interest, and a bucketful of pond water and you’re on your way!

For a few thousand dollars, you could hire a dozer to excavate a site of several acres in expanse. Most likely, your balcony or yard are rather less than even half an acre, but a pond in a bucket, artfully constructed, can be just as pleasing—to you as well as the plants and critters you invite into it. Plenty of websites will lead you to your own:

•  You can practically buy your own ready-made pond. There are companies that sell “pond supplies.” Give it a google. Otherwise, check out:

1.  The basics of design here (for an in-ground pond with a plastic liner)
2.  The plants you could establish in your pond (for choosing the proper, local plants that will please and invite your wild neighbors)
3.  This guidebook (if you are really serious about a big pond, the USDA provides a great guide)
4.  Better Homes and Gardens , which has the outline of a pond-in-a-bucket

Can we save the ponds all by ourselves? Well, one person might be able to save one pond, yes. On the other hand, we’re not alone in this, and the ponds aren’t so defenseless themselves. Let’s just agree to give them a fair fight when it comes to their own survival, and maybe even a helping hand.