2023

Nature Next Door
A tiny pond surrounded by Bend Oregon’s urban landscape entices a vanishing frog, and the people seeking to save it.
Nature Next Door

2023

A tiny pond surrounded by Bend Oregon’s urban landscape entices a vanishing frog, and the people seeking to save it.

The Oregon spotted frog once lived throughout Oregon; however, a now familiar narrative for threatened species, due to habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change, the frog has lost more than 80% of its historic range.

Story by Eden McCall

Click to view the interactive media story here: Nature Next Door

An unassuming little drainage pond nestles between a yoga studio and and a housing complex along the Deschutes River in downtown Bend, Oregon. Bikers, dog walkers, and families using the adjacent sidewalks and trails often pass by without a second glance. But peer into the reeds on a warm spring afternoon and you just might catch the gaze of the rare aquatic resident that decided to move in—surprising locals and scientists alike.

A bright florescent purple, dead mason bee. It has big eyes and little hairs covering its body.

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