Embrace the Frog(s)
Not many towns can boast that they have their own cryptid, but Loveland can! The Loveland Frogman (a.k.a. The Loveland Frog) was first reported in May of 1955, and then a 2nd time on March 3, 1972. There have been sightings since then, and Frogman lore and his popularity have reached all around the world. So much so that there will be a Loveland Frogman Festival this year in MASON!
It would be great if citizens of Loveland would embrace the Loveland Frogman and make him feel even more at home here in Loveland. Recently, to make the Frogman more celebrated and recognized locally, we came up with the idea that the City of Loveland create and purchase an official Frogman mascot, and they did! We worked on specifics for about a year and he made his debut last month. We think we could also go as far as to make May 3rd something of a holiday here in town: The Loveland Frogman Day (if you’re curious, it just so happens that World Frog Day is on March 30th). The City and its citizens are waking up to the possibilities that our local celebrity can bring to our community, and we should take advantage of them all.
Here at Love Our Land, we are doing our part to promote the Loveland Frogman. We created The Official Frogman Search Team to keep an eye out for the real Frogman, but also to track biodiversity in our local ecosystems. Amphibians, like frogs, happen to be one of the most imperiled groups of terrestrial organisms. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List more than 41 percent of the world's amphibians are at risk of extinction. This includes frogs and salamanders native to Ohio, like the state endangered eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii), which is a frog native to the southern and eastern part of the state. This species and other amphibians are at risk chiefly due to habitat loss & degradation, climate change, and the spread of nonnative fungal pathogens (e.g., Batrachochytrim dendrobatidis (Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal)). These threats make the future for amphibians, including the Loveland Frogman, uncertain. However, there is reason for hope. A recent local discovery of Ohio’s State Salamander, the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), in Loveland happened through the help of our friends Lauren and John at JL Aerial Views (*check out our recent social media posts to see images of spotted salamanders from this exciting discovery). They found an intact vernal pool–a seasonal wetland that fills in the winter, remains for spring, then dries during the summer–that harbors a significant population of this charismatic species. Spotted salamanders and other “mole salamanders”--named so because they spend the vast majority of the year underground–wait for late winter/early spring rains to emerge from the ground and migrate to nearby vernal pools to mate and lay their eggs. Because some healthy habitat that has been left relatively undisturbed remains, spotted salamanders have been able to sustain their populations in an ever growing developed landscape.
If we are to ensure the survival of spotted salamanders and other amphibians, including the Loveland Frogman, we must protect and enhance habitats necessary to support them and their progeny. Additionally, it is important we know what species currently call Loveland home. We encourage folks to download and use the mobile app “iNaturalist”, which involves photographing animals, plants, fungi, and other life you encounter and posting it to a citizen science database. Love Our Land curates a project called “Loving Life in Loveland” that helps us and local policy makers better understand how to protect local biodiversity. At Love Our Land we’re committed to helping people learn what they need to know to adequately preserve and create habitat capable of sustaining robust biodiversity. Who knows, when we see our community shift towards embracing stewardship of natural spaces, including right in their own yards, we may just begin to see our local cryptid again.
