WISCONSIN (NBC 26) — State officials are asking people to report road crossings where certain reptiles and amphibians are found dead or alive, to help save more of them.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said new efforts are underway to help the state's "creepy crawlies" such as native frogs, salamanders, lizards, and snakes from perishing under the wheels of cars and trucks.
The Department is using Wisconsin resident and visitor road crossing reports to better understand where these reptiles and amphibian populations occur to better save more of them in the future.
The new reporting form can be found on the DNR website for Reptiles and Amphibians.
"Our goal is to fill in gaps of where these animals are found in Wisconsin and how they're doing in the state so we can better protect them," said Rich Staffen, a DNR Natural Heritage Conservation Program zoologist. "We also want to identify high road mortality areas where we can work to incorporate mitigation efforts to diminish the threats to them."
Rori Paloski, a DNR Natural Heritage Conservation biologist, said that reducing road kills can help protect Wisconsin's herptiles — a term which encompasses both amphibians and reptiles.
"Most amphibians and reptiles migrate between different habitats throughout the year, which unfortunately means they must often cross roads," said Paloski. "Road crossings pose challenges for animals, but it is also a time when citizens are most likely to see the animals and can therefore help us gather information."
According to the DNR, the roadkill reporting effort for snakes, salamanders, lizards and frogs is modeled after the Department's well-established Wisconsin Turtle Conservation Program, which encourages people to report particularly deadly road crossings for turtles. Since the program's start in 2012, people have provided nearly 3,000 turtle crossing location reports and the DNR said it has identified 47 of those sites as particularly deadly for turtles. The DNR then worked with its partners to reduce mortality rates at the nearly 50 locations.
Staffen explained that many snake populations have declined in Wisconsin due to habitat loss and human persecution. 13 out of Wisconsin's 21 snake species are considered "rare" and are listed as endangered, threatened, or a special concern.
"Snakes play very important roles in many ecosystems as predator and prey and they help farmers by keeping grain-eating mammals in check," added Staffen. "They also reduce disease threats posed by high rodent populations."
The DNR said three of the state's four lizard species are in trouble, including the legless and endangered slender glass lizard. Additionally, Wisconsin is home to 12 species of frogs, including the American toad. A few species have relatively stable populations but many have declined throughout the state due to habitat destruction and fragmentation.
The Department said Wisconsin also has seven different species of salamanders, one considered "special concern" because of uncertain population numbers. These secretive animals are often undetected by humans but live most of their lives on land, returning to aquatic habitats only for breeding.
Visit the DNR website to learn more about all of Wisconsin's herptiles.
