Funds raised in the many Save the Frogs Day events go in part for grants to help amphibian projects in developing countries that have high rates of deforestation, including Nepal, Madagascar, and Liberia. Without funds from Save the Frogs, these projects might not have been possible.

At Frogs Are Green, we would like to encourage you to check out the events that are going on today around the world, and also to urge you to do something, even something small, to help out. Educating just one person about the plight of amphibians will help.

One-third of all amphibians are at risk of extinction and we should be concerned. After all, we humans also share this planet with amphibians, a planet that seems to have become too unhealthy for an entire group of animals. By saving frogs, we also save ourselves.

Please see the Save the Frogs site for lots of suggestions for getting involved on Save the Frogs Day—and everyday.

Here’s a cool t-shirt you can buy over at Save the Frogs:

photo courtesy National Park Service. Department of the Interior

According to the Center, the population of Sierra Yellow legged frogs has decreased by 75% in recent decades. Reading about these frogs, we were struck by how they are a symbol of the challenges that frogs face worldwide. But they aren’t facing one challenge—they seem to be facing almost all of them:

Introduction of nonnative species: Stocking of nonnative trout in high-elevation Sierra lakes has been the main cause of the species’ decline. The trout eat tadpoles and juvenile frogs and alter the food web of the aquatic ecosystems on which the native frogs depend. The Department is recommending no trout stocking in the state without a fish management plan, and no further stocking of trout in areas that would conflict with protecting yellow-legged frogs.

Pesticides: Recent research has linked pesticides that drift from agricultural areas in the Central Valley to declines of native amphibians in the Sierra Nevada. Pesticides and other pollutants can directly kill frogs and also act as environmental stressors that render amphibians more susceptible to diseases, including a chytrid fungus that has recently ravaged many yellow-legged frog populations.

Loss and degradation of habitat: Grazing, logging, water diversions, off-road vehicles and recreational activity are allowed in frog habitat.

Climate change: Climate change has brought warmer temperatures, decreases in runoff, shifts in winter precipitation in the Sierra from snow to rain, and habitat changes that are rendering frog populations more vulnerable to drought-related extinction events.

A recent settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, which will also speed protection decisions for 756 other species, requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013 to make a decision about whether to add the Sierra frog to the federal endangered list.

See the Center for Biological Diversity for more information about these frogs and about the other endangered species they are working to protect.