Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the quality of the waters salamanders and frogs use by scouring streambeds
with l ashes of dirty storm-water runof ; polluting streams with deadly chemi-
cals, including chloride from road salts; and enriching them with nitrate from
fertilizers and decomposing yard and animal waste that spurs algal growth
and its inevitable decomposition, robbing the stream of its lifeblood—oxygen.
These factors acted together in Maryland to extinguish most of the diverse
stream salamander group from reaches where more than a third of their
watershed was paved. As a result, the highly urbanized corridor from Balti-
more to Washington, D.C., has lost most of its stream-dwelling salamanders
and many of its frogs since the mid-1970s.
Seattle has a rich amphibian community that also has suf ered losses as its
temperate rainforest has been dissected and dried by settlement. Oregon
spotted frogs and western toads no longer exist in the Emerald City. Gone too
from most fast-moving urban streams are tailed frogs and Pacii c giant sala-
manders. Northern alligator lizards rarely prowl under driftwood logs or
other dry and sandy places along Seattle's Puget Sound. But Seattleites can
still enjoy a spring evening concert of Pacii c tree frogs and wonder at the sight
of dainty long-toed and northwestern salamanders in their moist gardens
and forested parks. These species regularly breed in storm-water retention
ponds—basins of an acre of so in size that gather runof and ease its return to
urban streams. The rest of the year these animals live in the duf that accu-
mulates under our magnii cent forests. In the wilder suburbs of the city,
where forests and retention ponds are common, the diversity of native am-
phibians nearly equals that found in more natural settings; even the occur-
rence of nonnative and predatory bullfrogs seems to be tolerated by the
abundant salamanders, newts, and native frogs. Seattle was never home to
poisonous snakes, and its native garter snakes thrive in subirdia, feasting on
abundant slugs as well as worms, frogs, salamanders, small i sh, and the oc-
casional baby bird.
