At larger scale it would be a horror movie come to life: Glistening, cold-blooded creatures returning to life from hibernation in frozen soil and slithering, crawling or hopping their nocturnal way to their breeding grounds, the greater part of their number slaughtered along the way. Or it's a tribute to the power of love. Or both.

The chance to observe this parade and stem the massacre began early in March with “Big Night,” naturalists' term for the spring arrival of the rain and warm(er) weather that unlocks the forest soil of the Northeast and frees frogs, salamanders and others of their kind from subterranean shelter to get about the business of reproduction.

That depends on access to “vernal pools” which, per Wikipedia, “are small, temporary wetlands that hold water until summer, so the adult amphibians must gather, breed, and deposit eggs early enough to ensure their aquatic young can hatch, grow, and leave the pools before they dry up.”

Problem is that, in their headlong rush to mate, the little critters have roads to cross and — talk about asymmetrical warfare — a poor record of doing so, fatality rates of well over 50 percent and as high as 90 percent, with up to 30 percent of a local population liquidated in a single night.

New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, like state agencies elsewhere, has responded to this slaughter with a citizen volunteer effort, the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings project (AM&RC) which, per the DEC, enlists volunteers to find locations where migrations cross roads; document weather and traffic conditions; record migrating amphibians; and help them across the road.”

“Since the project started in 2009, more than 1,000 volunteers have counted at least 66,000 amphibians and observed 20 species,” the DEC reports. “They assisted more than 40,000 amphibians across roads during migrations and counted nearly 19,000 migrating amphibians killed by passing vehicles.”

The project is not just about love of all God's creatures great and small. There's a major payback from amphibian welfare in that they eat mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects. Gobs of them. “Without amphibians,” writes the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, “populations of mosquitoes and other insect pests would likely soar, threatening humans, livestock and plants.”

DEC reports that this year's migration got off to a slow start but kicked into gear with the arrival of scattered rain and temperatures in the 60s on March 11, so that “at least 125 volunteers surveyed roads from the Lower Hudson Valley to the Capital District, contributing more than 50 hours of survey time and assisting more than 1,650 amphibians across roads.”

Woodstock native Zoe Keller is as Ulsterite who's all over the amphibian trip, a regular participant in local Big Nights and, in her artistic practice, enshrining the forest dwellers, using graphite and ink to create portraits of at-risk species.

“They're incredible creatures,” she told Kingston Wire. “The frogs, in the springtime, have these beautiful choruses that make the spring and early summer nights feel like this part of New York is a really special place.”

Keller led a group of volunteers out early in March, telling them “We might not see anything at all, but if you want to come out and just kind of get a feel for how this works, please come. And we ended up moving 150, which was a pretty fun surprise ... It brings up a childlike wonder for people and it's great watching people be tentative at first to pick up their first frog, and then as the night goes on, people are carefully, but confidently, grabbing frogs and salamanders and getting them safely across the road... And people are having a lot of fun, even though it's cold and wet and are still having a good time.”

Keller's numbers have held up, recording 125 live amphibians on the night of March 16 and 99 on the night of March 22.

Not coincidentally, the area Keller patrolled borders the site of the controversial proposed Zena Road housing development, which she opposes. “These super delicate wetland habitats are a critical environmental area,” she said. “I am hoping that we volunteers can collect data and record numbers to show the Woodstock and Ulster planning boards that this is a hot spot for amphibian migration and an increase in traffic in this area would be really detrimental to these fragile populations that include rare species.”

Want to take your place in the amphibian parade reviewing stands? Here's all info you'll need, courtesy of DEC:

Volunteer Handbook (PDF): The handbook provides lots of details on volunteering, including how to prepare and stay safe, what to expect, and what to bring on a migration night.

2026 Virtual Volunteer Training: This is a recording of the two-hour virtual volunteer training held on February 24, 2026, which includes a Q&A period after the presentations.

Volunteer Training Modules: This five-part recorded PowerPoint series has audio narration and is recommended for volunteers who have not attended an in-person or virtual training (or for those who need a refresher).