Amphibians are important barometers of the health of the environment.
Participants in Texas Amphibian Watch are preparing for a third season of collecting data on frogs, toads and salamanders in the state. A lack of information about Texas amphibian populations is cause for concern, according to Andy Price, herpetologist at TPW and chairman of the Southern Plains Working Group of the Declining Amphibians Populations Task Force. We are in danger of letting this portion of our natural heritage slip away almost unnoticed. One species native to the El Paso area has disappeared from Texas because of habitat alteration, Price said. Others have disappeared or become rare in large parts of the state where they were once common, he added.