[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E817-E818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E817]]


            MINNESOTA TEACHER IS SITED AS ENVIRONMENTAL HERO

                                 ______


                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 1996

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a teacher and a 
fellow Minnesotan who was recently cited as an environmental hero by 
the Minnesota Wilderness and Parks Coalition, Ms. Cindy Reinitz. As a 
science educator for 10 years before serving in the U.S. Congress, I am 
very pleased to note the outstanding science inquiry education 
initiative that is being demonstrated by Ms. Reinitz.
  Ms. Reinitz teaches at the Minnesota New Country Charter School and 
has expanded her classroom outside the school's walls, involving her 
students in an active inquiry project with the goal of solving what 
persists as an environmental mystery in Minnesota and around the globe. 
Scientists have documented declines in amphibian populations worldwide, 
and they have also detected an increase in the number of these animals 
who have physical deformities. The mystery is what is causing these 
changes in the amphibian population. Scientists are unsure of the exact 
cause, but human encroachment on their habitats, chemical pollution, 
and increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion have been 
sited as possible suspects.
  Minnesota's amphibian population, especially frogs, has been 
affected, and many groups, including the students in Ms. Reinitz class, 
have stepped in to help solve the mystery. The students, who initially 
discovered abnormal development of Leopard frogs in their southwest 
Minnesota area, have now partnered with the Minnesota Pollution Control 
Agency and Hamline University's Center for Global and Environmental 
Education to form the A Thousand Friends of Frogs program. This 
cooperative effort will, among other things, provide students a way to 
make substantive contributions to this scientific initiative. The plan 
is to have the students of A Thousand Friends of Frogs monitor sites 
where deformed frogs have been found and collect data on their 
populations. They will also help develop educational programs for use 
by other students across the State. Eventually, students will combine 
the data they collected in order to help researchers find the cause and 
solution to this problem facing Minnesota's frog population.

  The enthusiasm and dedication of the students involved in A Thousand 
Friends of Frogs demonstrates not only their commitment to the 
environment, but it reflects on the quality and creativity of the 
students' science teachers. Cindy Reinitz is one of those outstanding 
educators, expanding the minds of her students and making science more 
than something to study, but something to explore.
  At a time when many questions persist concerning the quality of 
schools and education programs, it is encouraging to highlight a 
successful program and the positive community response to the concerns 
of a Minnesota teacher and her students. Teaching younger generations 
about science is an essential task in a world becoming increasingly 
reliant on technology and science to remain competitive in the global 
economy. It is also an important part of passing on an appreciation for 
the environment and the species that live within it. Educators such as 
Cindy Reinitz are an integral part of ensuring a quality science and 
environmental education in our Nation's schools, and I am glad to know 
that she is making a difference in Minnesota. I want to thank and 
congratulate Ms. Reinitz for her hard work protecting the environment 
and educating young Minnesotans. She is not only an environmental hero, 
but a hero for our young people as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to enter the following article into the 
Record regarding the efforts of Ms. Reinitz, her students, and all the 
scientists and researchers working to find a cause for the mysterious 
changes in amphibian populations in Minnesota. The article was written 
by Anne Brataas and printed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on May 9, 
1996.

       Consider 55 years of frog history in Minnesota:
       One spring night in 1941, Walter Breckenridge--a biologist 
     who specializes in frogs, toads, snakes and salamanders--
     counted the dead frogs on West Mississippi River Road near 
     his home in Brooklyn Park. His estimate: 12,000 northern 
     leopard frogs per mile on the road surface.
       The frogs were killed by cars as they left the Mississippi 
     River, where they spend the winter, and crossed the road to 
     small pools of water to breed. Says Breckenridge: ``You'd 
     thought they were fallen leaves, there were so many of them 
     on the road--and I only counted the dead ones. Obviously, 
     some made it across. It was quite a traffic hazard because it 
     was so slippery. But these days, I see very few leopard 
     frogs. Very few.''
       Last summer students in Cindy Reinitz' science class at the 
     Minnesota New Country Charter School in Le Sueur-Henderson 
     School District had considerably fewer northern leopard frogs 
     to work with--about 400 that they caught with the help of 
     scientists from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
       Of those, about 30 to 50 percent were found to be deformed. 
     Some had three legs. Others were missing a leg. Still others 
     had a bony plate jutting out from the leg. Breckenridge says 
     he's never seen such a thing.
       These two extreme frog encounters point to a disturbing 
     trend that biologists worldwide are now documenting: 
     Amphibian populations are declining and distressed due to a 
     constellation of factors, including overpopulation by humans 
     that leads to loss of habitat, chemical pollution that 
     poisons amphibians or disrupts normal development, and 
     increased ultraviolet radiation from the destruction of the 
     ozone layer.
       In Minnesota, the issue has taken on new urgency since the 
     discovery of the deformed leopard frogs. As a result, a 
     coalition of scientists, college students, Hamline 
     University's Center for Global and Environmental Education in 
     St. Paul and grade school children has formed A Thousand 
     Friends of Frogs to help the state's amphibians. Through the 
     Minnesota Legislature--and its Legislative Commission on 
     Minnesota Resources--this coalition has mounted an 
     investigative and educational effort on several fronts. Among 
     them are:
       Minnesota Pollution Control Agency--With a $151,000 grant 
     from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, MPCA 
     scientists are working with various university researchers to 
     examine tissue samples and egg development and to perform 
     chromosome analysis as a way of determining possible 
     causes of the deformities. ``What we're trying to do is 
     see what the deformed frogs have in common,'' says PCA 
     researcher Judy Helgen. These common factors will then be 
     evaluated in terms of potential causes--from chemicals to 
     parasites--present at the sites during the time the 
     deformities occurred.
       University of Minnesota--At the University of Minnesota, 
     ecologist Bill Schmid dissected some of the deformed frogs 
     and X-rayed their bone structure to determine if the 
     deformities were superficial or part of a deeper 
     developmental pattern gone awry. His findings thus far: the 
     deformities appear to be the result of a miscue in the frog's 
     development, probably occurring during limb bud development 
     when it transforms from a tadpole to a legged adult. It seems 
     unlikely that a genetic mutation is at work.
       But just what caused the development to go wrong is not 
     known. It could be a number of factors. For example, Schmid 
     says that this type of deformity--known as supernumerary 
     limbs--has been documented at various places around the world 
     at different times in amphibians over the centuries.
       Most intriguing to him is a 1990 report by California 
     researchers in which one species of frog (the Pacific tree 
     frog) and one species of salamander (the long-toed 
     salamander) in nearby ponds were found to have extra limbs.
       Researchers hypothesized that the cause was a parasite that 
     uses amphibians as an intermediate host. They reasoned that 
     the parasitic cysts may excrete a hormone that disrupts limb 
     development, or pose a physical obstacle to tissues as they 
     develop.
       The researchers tested this last idea by experimentally 
     implanting obstacles into frog limbs in the lab. The results: 
     The implants induced the growth of extra limb structures. 
     This suggests that the presence of a parasitic cyst poses 
     mechanical disruption to development--and that this may be a 
     mechanism for the deformities.
       Says Schmid: ``A lot of things can disrupt normal 
     development. And as this study shows, here's one more thing 
     to look at, since we have a parasite here similar to the one 
     in the California study and we know it affects certain 
     tadpole larvae.''
       Hamline University--Hamline's Center for Global and 
     Environmental Education brought together researchers from the 
     Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota New Country 
     School and its own departments to form the Thousand Friends 
     of Frogs program. Funded by $28,000 of the $151,000 granted 
     the Pollution Control Agency, the Thousand Friends project 
     has three components:
       1. This summer, students in the New Country School will 
     monitor sites in the Minnesota River where the deformed frogs 
     were

[[Page E818]]

     found. They will work with researchers from the Minnesota 
     Pollution Control Agency to try to find the cause of 
     deformities--and what their presence in this population 
     means.
       2. The New Country School and Hamline will develop 
     educational programs to be used by children or families 
     throughout the state to assess the health of a local frog 
     population. ``This way kids can do hands-on research and 
     learn about science and their own environment,'' says Tracy 
     Fredin, co-director of Hamline's Center for Global and 
     Environmental Education.
       3. In the fall, Hamline will host a week-long environmental 
     education program during which students from throughout the 
     state will compare results to piece together a portrait of 
     the state's frog population.
       And it doesn't stop here. A Thousand Friends of Frogs would 
     like to expand into Ten Thousand Friends of Frogs--with more 
     people and more sophisticated science--and has asked the 
     legislative commission for $500,000 to help them do it. They 
     will testify in favor of their proposal at 2 p.m. May 15 at 
     the State Capitol.
       Annual Frog and Toad Survey--Hennepin County Parks 
     biologist John Moriarty is in the third year of conducting a 
     statewide frog and toad survey to determine the strength and 
     health of these populations.
       Though it is to soon to make definitive findings, Moriarty 
     hopes that state funding through the proposed Ten Thousand 
     Friends of Frogs program will speed the data collection and 
     analysis, and make the survey a permanent effort.
       The money will be used not only to analyze field reports, 
     but to formalize a system of 80 to 100 routes throughout the 
     state that trained volunteers--including backyard nature 
     enthusiasts--will monitor by listening for frog calls at a 
     specific time during the year.
       Says Moriarty: ``Listening to frogs and learning their 
     calls in your own backyard is a great way to really 
     appreciate the role of wetlands and wooded areas that frogs 
     need. Enlisting the help of people in their backyards not 
     only gives us more data, it will raise awareness about the 
     role of wetlands and woods so that if you see your neighbor 
     dumping oil in a pond or grass clippings, you'll take action.
       The message is really pretty simple, he says. If we want 
     frogs, we have to give them the habitat they need. They are 
     more than willing to do their part--and in fact, are trying 
     to now. We have only to listen to them.

                          ____________________