Amphibian Conservation/Tree Walkers International

[edward]

Oct. 1, 2006

Tree Walkers International is now open for membership. TWI was formed in response to the global decline of amphibian populations as a way for private individuals to become directly involved in amphibian conservation. Members and volunteers are needed to develop and support two important amphibian conservation initiatives.

The Amphibian Steward Network is designed to harness the skills and expertise of private amphibian enthusiasts through captive breeding programs that benefit wild amphibian populations. Through ASN, private enthusiasts can help reverse declining trends in wild amphibian populations by:

· Wisely managing existing captive amphibian populations to reduce the pet-trade demand for animals collected from the wild.

· Support environmentally-sensitive and sustainable collection, importation, and distribution practices that support local economies where the animals live in the wild.

· Provide training and support that allows volunteer stewards to participate in amphibian conservation breeding programs, vastly expanding the capacity of zoos, aquaria, and other professional institutions.

Operation Frog Pond encourages people to act locally by creating amphibian habitat in their own backyards, schools and parks. This initiative is designed to capitalize on the growing popularity of ornamental water gardens. OFP volunteers can participate as research associates who collect data and report their findings to improve our ability to reverse declines of local amphibian projects through small-scale habitat improvement projects.

To learn more about Tree Walkers International and become a member, please visit our website at: http://www.treewalkers.org

 

[paris]

count me in!

 

[jennifer]

Wonderful effort!

 

[rozdaboff]

Hello everyone. I just wanted to bump this topic to the top. My name is Oz - and I am currently the director of the Amphibian Steward Network (ASN), one of the programs of TreeWalkers International (TWI). While I have read many threads on this site, I have never posted.

For those of you not familiar with ASN - it was developed to address two important goals:

# Eliminate the unsustainable harvest of amphibians from the wild.
# Support the protection and restoration of critically threatened amphibian populations in the wild through captive management and propagation.

ASN harnesses the passion, skills, and resources of private amphibian enthusiasts to help conserve wild amphibians.

Because ASN has it roots in the dart frog hobby - many believe that it is only for dendrobatids. This couldn't be farther from the truth. ASN is for all amphibians - and to make this project work - we need participation from hobbyists who work with ALL types of amphibians.

To apply to become a steward - one must first become a member of TWI (www.treewalkers.org). There is a membership fee for TWI; this fee is required is because there is overhead for web hosting, fiscal sponsorship for 501(c)3 status, ISIS membership, etc. Once you are a member of TWI - you can submit your steward application here: ASN Steward Application.

ASN stewards support conservation in numerous ways, including:

Becoming better stewards of captive amphibians
ASN organizes stewards to establish long-term sustainable captive populations of amphibians that retain their original wild characteristics. These populations are then used to supply commercial demand for amphibians in the pet trade to reduce collecting pressure on wild populations. In addition, ASN stewards support commercial trade practices that work for, rather than against wild amphibian conservation. When amphibians are collected from the wild ethically and responsibly, purchasing dollars are used to support local economies and conservation projects where the amphibians originate.

Supporting conservation breeding programs
Through their passion and knowledge, ASN stewards are powerful advocates for amphibian conservation and the environment. ASN stewards are encouraged to spread the word throughout their communities about the crisis facing the world's amphibians today, and why amphibians are important indicators of general environmental health. Such grassroots advocacy is vital to gain public support to effectively meet the challenge of saving our planet's first land dwelling vertebrates.

What are the benefits of becoming a steward? There are many reasons - including:

# Ensuring the long-term maintenance of captive populations
# Access to centralized database of captive holdings and studbooks
# Participation in organized network breeding stock exchanges
# Access to steward-developed knowledge base of husbandry and conservation practices
# Potential to participate in other amphibian captive breeding programs

ASN needs great froggers to make it successful, so please consider joining TWI and becoming an amphibian steward.

Oz
ASN director

 

[Mark]

Hi Oz, thanks for bumping this, it’s a very worthwhile cause and one that is close to many of our hearts.

Are you able to give us an idea of current caudate species signed up for ASN attention?

I think another perception of TWI is that it’s a US organisation. Do you have a global membership? In Europe there are a number of well established studbooks for threatened caudata. Have you approached the owners of these?

Thanks, Mark

 

[Jennewt]

Did you really intend to say "ASN needs great froggers to make it successful"? I'm not much of a frogger.

I was interested to see that TWI will have a meeting concurrent with the PARC meeting in Austin in June. Anyone else thinking of going? Membership in PARC is free, and I recommend their listserve to anyone who wants to hear opinions on herp conservation. What is interesting is that PARC brings together the "pros" (zoos, universities, park services) with hobbyists.
http://www.parcplace.org/

 

[paris]

i'd be interested in giong depending on how it falls with my work in the field-our schedule isnt set up yet and will be dependant on the weather in the Amarillo/Lubbock area (my research area)

 

[rozdaboff]

To begin - a couple of apologies. First and foremost - I meant no disrespect with stating at the end of my blurb that "ASN needs great froggers to make it successful". I overlooked that in proofing the statement. Great first impression, eh? So let me try that again: ASN needs great newtists, froggers, and general amphibian enthusiasts to make it successful.

Also - sorry for the delayed reply. I didn't have my profile set up to alert me of responses.

Now to address some of your questions:

Are you able to give us an idea of current caudate species signed up for ASN attention?

I think another perception of TWI is that it’s a US organisation. Do you have a global membership? In Europe there are a number of well established studbooks for threatened caudata. Have you approached the owners of these?

Mark - the goal is to eventually have all amphibian species represented within ASN. From the most common to some of the more uncommon ones. ASN is currently working on identifying species that are of particular risk or that should be more actively addressed - but that does not preclude any animals. Currently, very few caudates are registered within ASN. We would really like to see that change.

Yes - while TWI is currently mainly US members - it is an international organization. And we would very much like to see international membership increase. I do not believe that TWI/ASN has contacted the owners of the European studbooks. The Amphibian Steward Network just started accepting applications last fall - so we are still very much in the early going. However - having the owners of the animals in those studbooks register as stewards and register their animals would be an incredible asset. Those individuals (or any others with great interest in a particular species) would also be perfect candidates to head up the Taxon Management Groups. These groups will be responsible for managing the captive specimens from those species to make sure their numbers are stable and breeding is being done in a way to maximize the genetic variability. So far, we only have one Taxon Management Plan written (for Dendrobates variabilis - http://www.treewalkers.org/treeftp/GlobalConservation/ASN/public/TMP/VariabilisTMP.pdf) - but we are actively looking for individuals to become involved and create TMPs for all other species of interest.

I was interested to see that TWI will have a meeting concurrent with the PARC meeting in Austin in June. Anyone else thinking of going? Membership in PARC is free, and I recommend their listserve to anyone who wants to hear opinions on herp conservation. What is interesting is that PARC brings together the "pros" (zoos, universities, park services) with hobbyists.
http://www.parcplace.org/

PARC is a great program that TWI/ASN is working on becoming affiliated with. One of the founders of TWI recently attended the first NW PARC conference. TWI/ASN also has a strong connection with the Amphibian Ark project. Both are great projects that I recommend all hobbyists looking into.

If you have any questions - please don't hesitate to ask. I promise to be a little more timely in my replies.