Cucumber Gulch – Waist-high in willows with mosquitoes buzzing overhead, Heide Andersen was hot on the trail of the fast-fading boreal toad.
“This little hollow looks like it would be a great place for a toad to hide,” Andersen said, kneeling to peep inside the dark hole.
Apparently, the toads – the state’s only endangered amphibian – felt otherwise.
Andersen, Breckenridge’s open- space and trails planner, and her volunteer crew haven’t seen a toad since one was sighted in May near one of the ponds that dot the city’s alpine wetlands, just yards away from the ski slopes.
Once common in the southern Rocky Mountains, the toad has only two viable populations left in Colorado – one in Chaffee County and another in Gunnison County.
By September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to place the alpine-dwelling amphibian on the federal endangered-species list, triggering mandatory protection that may include restricted access to the toad’s habitat.
The toads of Chaffee and Gunnison counties are unique because they are free of the deadly fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – the prime suspect for the deaths of several Western amphibians, including boreal toads and leopard frogs.
Scientists believe the fungus is also to blame for mass die-offs in Costa Rica, Panama and Australia.
“B.d. is a bad thing for most amphibians,” said Lauren Livo, a University of Colorado researcher and member of the Boreal Toad Recovery Team. “But the evidence isn’t all in yet to tell us just how bad it is.”
What scientists do know is this: The fungus and a trail of sick or dying frogs have been found just about everywhere they’ve looked in Colorado.
Livo said some amphibians such as the common bullfrog are able to survive once infected.
But the boreal toad seems to be particularly vulnerable to the fungus, which thickens the toad’s skin and impairs the ability to breathe and ward off water-borne diseases, Livo said.
“In captivity, you can apply various treatments and can apparently cure them,” Livo said. “But that requires giving them baths daily for more than a week. That’s not exactly something that translates easily into the field.”
Efforts to protect the toad began in 1994 with the formation of a multi-agency team with members from Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Beginning in 2000, toads were bred in captivity at the Native Aquatic Species Restoration Facility in Alamosa. Today, the center has about 500 toads.
The team is now focusing on trying to re-establish populations in former historic sites, even those with the fungus.
For three years, toads have been transplanted from the Alamosa facility to the Grand Mesa.
“A year after the release, you may see a few 1-year-olds, but it’s really not until the next year or the next that you start to see adult toads returning to the pond,” said Tina Jackson, Colorado Division of Wildlife’s herptile coordinator.
“So we’re very hopeful that is what we see next year on Grand Mesa,” Jackson said.
Cucumber Gulch may also become a toad destination, depending on how this summer’s work goes.
“We all recognize that finding one out here is like finding a needle in a haystack,” Breckinridge’s Andersen said. “But everyone here is committed to doing what they can to help out. Even if that means crawling on our hands and knees out here.”
Toads have been sighted in about 14 counties, and they may be in seven others as well. Many are likely infected with the fungus.
Some of the toads have been spotted basking in the water hazards at the Pole Creek Golf Course in Grand County.
“It’s a neat little animal,” Jackson said. “I think most people are generally surprised to see any kind of toad when they’re up at (10,000 to) 11,000 feet.
“I call them charismatic minifauna.”
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
