Citizen Scientists Help Hudson River Eels, Salamanders

All along the Hudson River Estuary, volunteers are donning waders and venturing into tributary streams to participate in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s 12th annual research and monitoring project on migrating juvenile American eels. Or they're on the road in reflective vests, for the annual breeding migrations of salamanders and frogs.

The projects directly involve students and volunteers with scientific design and field methodology.

The road-crossing volunteers will document their observations as part of DEC’s Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project. The eel monitors are part of a multi-state effort to protect the American Eel.

“Citizen-based research and community involvement are indispensable in helping to learn about these unique animals and guide our conservation and stewardship," said Commissioner Basil Seggos.

Check out volunteer opportunities with the Hudson River Estuary Program.

The eel monitoring project was initiated by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve to gather data to guide multi-state management plans for eel conservation.

Eel collection takes place at most sites daily from mid-March through mid-May. In the 11 years since the project began, volunteers have caught, counted, and released nearly 700,000 juvenile eels into upstream habitat. Each spring, more than 600 volunteers from nearly 40 schools and organizations monitor glass eels at 13 Hudson River sites from New York Harbor to the Capital Region.

Coastal states from Florida to Maine monitor the young-of-the-year migrations of American eels, using the protocols of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. American eels (Anguilla rostrata) have one of the most unusual life cycles of any fish. Born in the Sargasso Sea north of Puerto Rico, and every spring these eels arrive in estuaries like the Hudson River as translucent, two-inch long "glass eels." As part of the research project, volunteers and students check a 10-foot cone-shaped fyke net designed to catch this small species. Researchers then count and release the glass eels back into the water and record environmental data on temperature and tides. Most of the eels are released above dams, waterfalls, and other barriers so that they have better access to habitat. Eels will live in freshwater rivers and streams for up to 30 years before returning to the sea to spawn.

Volunteers include students, watershed groups, environmental professionals, and community residents trained in basic protocols to assure useful data is collected. Classroom visits by DEC educators help bring the project alive to thousands of students. The program grew partly because eels are a strangely charismatic species with an unusual life story.

Also, people are drawn to the connections between their neighborhoods and their waterways, from urban streams to rural creeks — and woodland pools.

After the ground has started to thaw in late winter and early spring, species such as spotted salamander and wood frog emerge from underground winter shelters in the forest and walk overland to woodland pools for breeding. In the Hudson Valley, this migration usually occurs on rainy nights from mid-March to early April, when the night air temperature is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

When these conditions align just so, New York can experience explosive “big night” migrations, with hundreds of amphibians on the move, many having to cross roads.

Volunteers of the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project document Hudson Valley locations where migrations cross roads, record weather and traffic conditions, and identify and count the amphibians on the move. The volunteers also carefully help the amphibians to safely cross roads.

Now in its 11th year, more than 370 project volunteers have counted 20 species of amphibians and helped nearly 12,000 cross roads.

Species reported most frequently during migration nights include spotted salamander, spring peeper, and wood frog.

To a lesser degree, volunteers have also observed Jefferson-blue spotted salamander complex and four-toed salamander, species of greatest conservation need in New York, as well as more common species like American toad and redback salamander.

Drivers are encouraged to proceed with caution or avoid travel on the first warm, rainy evenings of the season. Amphibians come out after nightfall and are slow moving; mortality can be high even on low-traffic roads.

Since the project started in 2009, volunteers have counted at least 5,700 migrating amphibians killed by passing vehicles.

“DEC is grateful to the hundreds of volunteer partners that venture out each year to help protect New York’s amphibians," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "I encourage all New Yorkers and visitors traveling the state’s roads to be on the lookout for amphibians and consider working with our committed community of volunteers helping these creatures to safely cross the road.”