Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:00 am
Glistening in the late-afternoon sun, a bullfrog peers out amid floating pondweed at Cattail Pond on Tuesday at the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge south of Corvallis.
Common at the refuge and throughout the Willamette Valley, the non-native bullfrogs are considered an invasive species, according to Molly Monroe, a Finley wildlife biologist. "We'd prefer that you identify them as a problem, not something we like to see in our wetlands," Monroe told the
D-H. "They displace many of our native reptiles and amphibians and eat just about everything." The 5,325-acre Finley refuge makes for a fun, free and easy-to-access recreational opportunity for mid-valley residents. For more on the Finley Refuge and what to do there, click the news label at the top of the page, pull down to people and open the story titled "Wild About Hiking."