Potter Road Oregon Spotted Frog Habitat Restoration Intern

In the summer of 2025, I participated in a habitat restoration project run by the Whatcom Land Trust on a piece of WADOT-owned property aimed at helping the endangered Oregon spotted frog (OSF). OSF are medium-sized olive-brown aquatic frogs endemic to the PNW. They breed in early spring in shallow water. The goal of our project was to remove invasive plants that were overtaking the Potter Rd. marsh and destroying OSF breeding habitat. Section by section, somewhat asynchronously over the course of 6 weeks, we removed invasive vegetation, cut out root mats and rhizomes, graded out the earth, and laid down coconut fiber mats before planting 1,600 native wetland plants. Along the way, we ran into road blocks including unexpected difficulties with site structure, material availability, weather conditions, and absent volunteers. Despite this we completed our primary tasks. Along the way, I had the chance to expand my skillset both conceptually and practically, while applying theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios. Until next year, we won’t know for sure how effective our work has been at achieving our goal of creating suitable breeding and rearing habitat for OSF. We are hopeful, but there is still lots of work to be done.