The 11th annual Critter Count is set for Saturday morning at Vancouver’s Water Resources Education Center, 4600 S.E. Columbia Way.
Volunteers will be needed to help conduct amphibian and reptile field surveys at four sites in the Columbia River wetlands near the center. Frogs and other amphibians are sensitive to changing environmental conditions, so the data gathered during Critter Count is useful as part of a statewide database.
A brief training session with a wildlife biologist on an overview of the identification of frogs, snakes, salamanders, lizards and other local amphibians and reptiles begins at 9 a.m..
Participants should bring boots, warm clothes, a lunch and, if possible, binoculars.
All ages are welcome, although one adult chaperone is required for every three students in third through eighth grades. For younger children, one adult per child is required.
