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Schuylkill Center Adopts the Toad Detour

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE) announced that it officially adopted the Toad Detour at the first official screening of the Toad Detour Documentary on December 10th. Detour founder, Lisa Levinson, presented the Schuylkill Center with a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Toad Detour, “We thank the Schuylkill Center for adopting the Toad Detour, thereby preserving the Roxborough Toad Migration for generations to come and saving thousands of amphibian lives.” Levinson turned over Detour responsibilities to SCEE because she is moving to California, “The Schuylkill Center is the perfect new home for the Toad Detour! I’m very grateful that the future of the Detour is secure. Thanks to the Schuylkill Center, the famous toads of Roxborough Reservoir will continue to migrate safely across the road each spring.”

Volunteers Needed

To make this transition smoothly, SCEE will need many new and experienced volunteers to help! Please sign up for a volunteer shift, by contacting SCEE Volunteer Coordinator Claire Morgan at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 215-482-7300 x120. Volunteers are needed to place barricades and signs, distribute Toad Migration leaflets to drivers, count migrating toads, and help toads safely cross the road.

Toad Detour Documentary

Filmmaker Burgess Coffield produced a documentary about the Toad Detour to raise awareness about the plight of toads trying to maintain ancient migratory routes in a modern world. Local residents, Toad Detour Volunteers, and SCEE staff were interviewed. Coffield has the first footage of the toadlet migration on Port Royal. To purchase a copy of the Documentary, please contact Coffield ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

 

Saving Toads - You Can Help!

Why do toads cross the road? To get to their breeding ponds. Unfortunately, some of those roads are heavily traveled by cars and the results are deadly for the toads. In Roxborough, a Philadelphia neighborhood, hundreds of toads migrate from nearby woods and gardens to the Roxborough Reservoir south of the ball fields. Each year, more than a hundred toads are squished by cars, especially on Eva Street, Port Royal Road and Hagy's Mill Road. If present trends continue, this could eliminate the toad population. Ideally, roads should be designed with barriers leading to underpasses for toads.

 

TOAD DETOUR

TOAD DETOUR is an effort to protect toads as they migrate to and from their breeding ground each year and to raise public awareness about the migration. The TOAD DETOUR Committee is composed of local citizens and officials from various agencies (Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Mobilization For Animals Pennsylvania, Fairmount Park, Applied Ecological Services, Residents of Shawmont Valley Association, Philadelphia Police Department 5th District, Philadelphia Streets Department). The main goal of the Committee is to initiate new policies improving migration safety for the local toads. The Committee will establish a temporary road detour on evenings of heavy migration and educate the community about migration safety.

 

 

Upcoming Events

DONATE

Please donate to support the Toad Detour! We need funding to purchase signs and reflective cones to keep the Detour safe for humans and toads alike! Write checks to "Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education" and write "Toad Detour" in the memo section. Please mail donations to the following address:

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
8480 Hagy's Mill Road
Philadelphia, PA 19128

TOAD WALKS

Families are invited to participate in free toad walks around the Reservoir led by experienced naturalists from Fairmount Park and the Schuylkill Center. Learn why toads cross the road and listen for their strange calls.

Toad Sounds