Frog Week will highlight Pennsylvania's frogs in videos, podcasts and other events

PA Woods and Forests is launching its fifth annual Frog Week Monday through Aug. 6, including a variety of online videos highlighting frogs and toads in this state.

You’ll be able to see and hear six different types of frogs and toads through a series of videos recorded in Pennsylvania that will be released during Frog Week.

“This is the probably the most that the project has looked like I have always envisioned it,” Aaron Capouellez, 27, founder and president of the organization, said. 

PA Woods and Forests has been hosting guided hikes and other activities in their core region of Somerset, Cambria, Westmoreland, Indiana, Bedford, Erie, Blair, and Tioga counties in recent years.

“In years past we had a hold on different permits, licenses and other things, like a drone license,” the Johnstown resident said.

With those needs addressed, “The project thrived in a way that it never had before,” he said.

There are eight video episodes that will be released through Woods and Forests Media on YouTube. 

Woods and Forests Media is a brand Capouellez created to help fund efforts including the care of his frogs and toads. It’s a platform to share environmental, conservation and pet care media including podcasting and videos.

“It’s a collaborative project, it’s the nonprofit and the media brand coming together to create this conservation project and to tell the story of this conservation that’s been happening throughout the year,” he said.

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What’s featured

Members of the organization in the past have visited several areas of central and western Pennsylvania to document frogs and toads and how conservation efforts are making a difference.

There are scientific points as well as the interesting things for everyone involving weather stations and trail cameras.

“We are collecting real-time data of a micro-climate as opposed to sharing with the common person about how it’s been really dry and they’ve had 21 days of a drought, or if they had 15 days straight of rain and how that’s impacted the animals.”

“I think people are going to want to see a wild gray tree frog hunt, where I actually strap a GoPro on for Episode 5 and tried to show people, not all of the footage, the majority of it, to give them an understanding that this stuff takes time. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. They (frogs) only respond when they want to."

“It’s something that’s very challenging, but rewarding when you find them,” he said.

He’s also highlights pickerel frogs that he deems to be mysterious and uncommon in Pennsylvania.

There will also be highlights from two frog walks in Somerset and Westmoreland counties. “We were able to bring citizen science and community outreach together for this,” Capouellez said.

Maria Manon of Johnstown, secretary of PA Woods and Forest, said she enjoyed going on walks learning about these small creatures and helping with rescue efforts.

“I think they are really special,” she said. In the past, she learned how resilient frogs are in the wild. The rescue story of an eastern gray tree frog named Esperanza, which is Spanish for hope, is featured during Frog Week. “It’s really cool to see how something so tiny is resilient,” Manon said.

She also wants people to realize how important frogs and toads are to the climate. “They are really important to our ecosystem. Our ecosystem affects our health. If frogs and toads are in abundance, you know that’s a good indicator our ecosystem is healthy,” she said.

In the videos, Capouellez is transparent on the work and research with the animals and pets. “I’m hoping the (viewers) will want to come with me for our pet show. They will want to take my invitation and watch Esperanza’s life unfold, or they will see some of the toads that are in their own tank, or they’ll want to see an exotic Australian frog tank,” he said.

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Capouellez  averages about 30 or 35 hours a week in the field.

He became licensed to fly his drone and is using the bird’s-eye view in many videos. The drone provides a new perspective for landscapes and waterways and he will use the footage to monitor changes on the landscape over time.

Visit pawoodsandforests.com to see the line-up, Instagram podcast details and local meet and greet events.

Capouellez said at the end of Frog Week he wants to know that “we made a bigger impact on the conservation of these frogs and toads in the wild and, thanks to this project, there will be kids that went out on the frog walks and kids that I presented to with the critter talks that will continue the conservation mindset, that maybe we inspired the next herpetologists and the next environmentalists and continue to leave a legacy in central and western Pennsylvania.”

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him atbwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook@whipkeyoutdoors ,Twitter@whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram atwhipkeyoutdoors.