Outdoor Briefs: Leopard frogs & mystery snails

Leopard frog reintroduction earns award

The CSKT Wildlife Management Program has recently been awarded the Unsung Hero Award by the Northwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation in recognition of the Tribe’s efforts to restore populations of northern leopard frogs on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

This work began in 2003 with partners (including Blackfeet Reservation, Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Wildlife Conservation Society) collecting and translocating egg masses. They’ve continued to monitor overwinter survival, the presence of adult frogs, and the first naturally produced egg masses on the Flathead Reservation.

Finley Point home to mystery snails

It might seem like a good idea at the time, but dumping an aquarium pet into a lake or river is not good for the pet or for the native wildlife. The pet probably won’t survive, and native wildlife won’t know how to compete with the invasive species.

Earlier this spring, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks personnel identified two species that were the result of aquarium dumps.

The first detection was mystery snails at Finley Point in Flathead Lake. Mystery snails are an aquarium snail that are found in many waters in the West. But this is the first mystery snail population identified in Montana. FWP plans to attempt to remove the snail population later this season.

Near Bozeman, an angler reported catching a Dojo loach in a small pond. The Dojo loach is native to East Asia and is a popular aquarium pet in the United States.

For more information on how releasing pets into the wild can negatively impact habitat, visit www.dontletitloose.com.