National attention focused on malformed amphibians in 1995 when a group of school children in Minnesota discovered a large number of abnormal and misshapen frogs. 

In 1997, based on this and an increasing number of reports of abnormal amphibians, Regions 3 and 5 of the Service collaborated in developing a methodology for monitoring malformed frogs on national wildlife refuges and wetland management districts.

The objectives of the monitoring were to determine whether this phenomenon was occurring on Service lands, to develop a database that would include land use surrounding Service amphibian monitoring sites, and to contribute to the overall knowledge of the regional and national distribution of the phenomenon. 

The report covers the 2005 field season.  During that field season, monitoring was attempted at 11 Service sites in Region 3.  Nine refuges had been previously sampled but required additional monitoring to meet the sampling goals; two new refuges were added that season. 

Sites visited include:  Muscatatuck NWR (Indiana), Crab Orchard NWR (Illinois), Two Rivers NWR (Illinois), Shiawassee NWR (Michigan), Upper Mississippi River NW&FR- McGregor District (Iowa), Big Oaks NWR (Indiana), Litchfield WMD (Minnesota), Squaw Creek NWR (Missouri), Union Slough NWR (Iowa), Seney NWR (Michigan), and Fergus Falls WMD (Minnesota).

For a copy of the report, please contact Robin McWilliams-Munson at the Bloomington, Indiana Ecological Services Field Office.  A fact sheet developed in March of 2003 by the Division of Environmental Quality in the Washington Office is also available (including online at the FWS national web site under the Environmental Quality Program) and briefly describes the project and its objectives.