Gretta Stack is a recent graduate of UVM’s Wildlife and Fisheries Biology program. She created an educational poster to help others appreciate amphibians and to understand the threats that they face.

Gretta writes, “I drew an educational art piece that demonstrates why amphibians are AWESOME! Many amphibians are not exactly considered “charismatic species”, so it is sometimes hard to convince people to care about or protect them (especially compared to charismatic species like elephants). My hope for this art piece is to have the viewers appreciate amphibians in a new way! I think it is very important for kids, especially, to learn about amphibians from a young age so they become amazed by them rather than grossed out.”

“I included Frog and Toad in my art piece because I read those books when I was younger, and because of that, I was never scared of or disgusted by my amphibian friends who lived in my pond and vernal pool. I also wanted to show how amphibians are in trouble and need our help. So, in the corner, I included some current threats to amphibians. This should help people understand that this is a serious issue and amphibians are faced with several threats, that combined can be devastating. This introduces the viewers to the idea of synergisms- when multiple factors interact to create an effect that is larger than the independent sums of their parts. Finally, I drew a couple local VT species (the pickerel frog and the spotted salamander) to just give examples of the species that can be found here and to give the viewers a visual of what I hope will be their new friends! “