Posters will be hung at trailheads, particularly in areas where the status of the toad is unknown, but it is likely to exist in such places as North Park and the Conejos River. Many stores where outdoor recreation equipment is sold will also have the posters, which are part of an overall effort to find new breeding sites, identify present distributions, and monitor breeding sites. Any toad found above 8,000 feet is probably a boreal toad, the only toad indigenous to high elevations in the Rockies. The toads are easiest to find as tadpoles. Toad tadpoles are easy to tell from frog tadpoles, which have eyes protruding from the margin of their heads.
Adult toads are more terrestrial, more warty, and have drier skin than frogs.
If you spot a boreal toad during your outdoor adventures, report the location to the CDOW office nearest you. Admittedly, it is a vague term. Even some of the world's top scientists agree that it is a difficult concept to explain. Generally speaking, biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth - the full array of living things and the natural processes with which they interact. Let's start with the concept of genes, the basic building blocks that make up every living thing.