Chehaw Park & Zoo receives DNR Wildlife Viewing Grant

ALBANY – Chehaw Park & Zoo has received $5,000 from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to help develop public viewing aspects for a new “head start” education program focused on rare gopher frogs.

“Gopher frogs are a species of special concern in the state of Georgia, and they only live in certain patches,” Jackie Entz Shores, Chehaw’s director of education, said. “By head-starting the gopher frogs … we are essentially giving them a really big boost.” 

Six total grant projects announced Tuesday by the DNR will improve public opportunities to see and learn about native animals and plants statewide. The proposals chosen by the DNR Wildlife Resources Division for this year’s Wildlife Viewing Program grants range statewide from Chehaw Park & Zoo in Albany to McIntosh Reserve Park in Carroll County and walking trails in Athens.

The grants, funded by the Georgia Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, help develop and enhance wildlife viewing options, with an emphasis on State Wildlife Action Plan species and habitats. Georgia’s Wildlife Action Plan is a comprehensive strategy to conserve these animals, plants and places before they become rarer and costlier to conserve or restore.

These projects include work and support by partners that will significantly amplify the grants provided. Each will also help people experience the state’s native wildlife, including species and habitats identified in the Wildlife Action Plan, according to Matt Elliott, chief of DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section.

“We are thrilled to be able to support these conservation partners in these types of quality projects focused on high-priority species and habitats throughout the state,” Elliott said.

The grants are small – capped at $5,000 each – but the interest they tap is big. In 2022, wildlife viewing involved more than 148 million people nationwide, or nearly 60% of the population. That total has been growing since the mid-1990s. In Georgia, an estimated 4.8 million residents, almost three out of every five residents 16 or older, said they took part in wildlife viewing activities such as observing, feeding or photographing wildlife. Nationwide, related expenditures reached $250 billion in 2022.

“We are extremely excited to be a recipient for this grant,” Shores said. 

The grant allowed Chehaw to purchase the materials necessary for the Head Start program and to provide public education programming on the project. 

Shores said the gopher frog project is already in full swing. Chehaw worked with state herpetologists to locate frog egg masses. Staff at Chehaw are keeping the eggs until they hatch into baby froglets and are re-released into a local wildlife management area. This eliminates the potential for predators to eat the gopher frogs as eggs or tadpoles. 

Gopher frogs are rare. Shores said this is largely due to habitat loss.

“As we build up roads, birds can fly over them, but a lot of times smaller species, like frogs, some of our tortoises and turtles, have trouble crossing those barriers,” Shores said. 

The gopher frogs are also losing habitat to extreme weather events like droughts as well as fire suppression. Shores said these frogs need to live in a habitat that is maintained by natural fire or prescribed burns. 

“We don’t currently have any frogs there, so this will be really cool, because the gopher frogs that we head-start here at Chehaw will hopefully start bringing the population right here in southwest Georgia,” she said.

Chehaw received more than 1,100 eggs on Feb. 13 that have hatched out. There are 860 tadpoles currently in the head start program. Three hundred tadpoles already have been released.

“That simple act of raising these egg masses and re-releasing them into the wild has increased their survival percentage significantly,” Shores said. 

The public is able to get a first-hand look at this process. The tadpoles are on display by Chehaw’s reptile house, and Chehaw will host “frog chats” for school groups, talking about the importance of the gopher frog and its life cycle, as well as other amphibians. 

Those interested in scheduling a presentation time can look in the field trip section of Chehaw’s website or contact Shores directly at [email protected].