Host a FrogWatch USA Chapter!
FrogWatch USA is an AZA citizen science program that encourages community stewardship by training volunteers to listen and report the breeding calls of frogs and toads in their local wetlands. FrogWatch USA chapters engage people in both science and conservation in such a way that each volunteer is empowered to do more.
The host institutions for each FrogWatch USA chapter will identify chapter coordinators who will then recruit, train, and support a corps of local FrogWatch USA volunteers. FrogWatch USA chapter coordinators are trained by AZA, in-person or online, gaining the knowledge, skills, and tools needed for educating and engaging volunteers.
2012-2013 Chapter Coordinator Training Sessions
In-person Training Opportunities (New!)
AZA is offering in-person chapter coordinator training workshops throughout the country with the support of National Science Foundation grant funding. Click on a session link below to learn more and register:
September 9, 2012: AZA Annual Conference (Phoenix, AZ)October 21, 2012: Smithsonian National Zoo (Washington DC)December 3-4, 2012: Audubon Zoo (New Orleans, LA)January 24-25, 2013: Zoo Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)February 1, 2013: John Ball Zoo (Grand Rapids, MI)March 13-14, 2013: University of Tennessee Martin, Reelfoot Lake Environmental Field Station (Martin & Samburg, TN) - May 11, 2013: University of South Dakota (Vermillion, SD) - Registration closed.
- May 15-16 2013: Schoodic Education and Research Center, Acadia National Park (Winter Harbor, ME) - Registration closed.
- June 2013 (TBD): Water Resources Education Center (Vancouver, WA)
- August 4, 2013: Workshop Session (12:00 pm - 5:00 pm) at Ecological Society of America 98th Annual Meeting (Minneapolis, MN)
Workshops continue to be scheduled through summer 2013. If you are part of an organization that would be interested in hosting a training workshop and/or forming a FrogWatch USA chapter, please contact frogwatch@aza.org. Zoos, aquariums, government agencies, conservation groups, nature or environmental education centers, and like-minded organizations are encouraged to participate.
During the first grant year, sessions were held in: Buffalo, New York; Wichita, Kansas; Palm Springs, California; Wheaton, Illinois; Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; and Denver, Colorado. Thank you to all our previous hosts!
Help us grow our nationwide network of chapters, coordinators, and volunteers and e-mail frogwatch@aza.org to inquire about hosting a chapter coordinator workshop at your insititution!
Online Chapter Coordinator Course
The FrogWatch USA Chapter Coordinator Training course, designed by NP Training Works, allows people interested in hosting a FrogWatch USA chapter to train online to learn how to become a coordinator and train volunteers.
Benefits of Hosting a Chapter
Opening a FrogWatch USA chapter supports a national network of FrogWatch USA Chapters and volunteers that together provide large scale, long term data and contribute to amphibian conservation. The FrogWatch USA chapter network also promotes institutions and groups within their local community and links ex situ programs to in situ conservation at zoos and aquariums.
Some incentives for starting a local FrogWatch USA Chapter include:
- Being affiliated with AZA’s first flagship citizen science program
- Being part of a national conservation initiative that includes over ten years of data from every state in the United States
- In-person and online training opportunities for Chapter Coordinators
- Receiving free training and promotional materials
- Networking opportunities among Chapters
- Improving the data quality of a national citizen science program
- Providing a credible forum for educating, discussing, and engaging your community in local environmental issues
- Creating community of enthusiastic and consistently trained FrogWatch USA volunteers poised to become community advocates on behalf of your institution’s broader conservation objectives.
Apply to Host a Chapter
Download the FrogWatch USA Chapter Manual to learn more about Chapter responsibilities, the support each chapter will receive from AZA, the national FrogWatch USA infrastructure, and to obtain a chapter application. Complete and email the application to: frogwatch@aza.org.
It will take 2-4 weeks for AZA to process these applications. Once processed, the AZA FrogWatch USA Coordinator will contact the chapter coordinators to answer questions, discuss chapter coordinator training, and provide FrogWatch USA materials.
You can also learn more about hosting a Chapter by reading about other chapter coordinators' experiences in 2011.