Our organization has formed in response to the global amphibian extinction crisis that is degrading the health and productivity of the worlds ecosystems. More importantly we are an organization that seeks community solutions and involvement to help reduce the loss of amphibians in forest and wetland ecosystems surrounding our communities. Our organizations provides information about the ecology of amphibians and the services they provide to our community. Amphibians are a keystone predator in our forest soils and wetlands. This means that they hold a very important role in nutrient cycling, which supports the local forest industry. Even though they remain hidden from us under logs, under water and underground, amphibians are a normally abundant group that provides many vital roles in our lives. If you are interested in learning more or would like to become a citizen science volunteer, please contact us (ecology@namos.ca). We are interested in artists, buisness people, lawyers, politicians, naturalists, and kids to help us monitor amphibians, work on environmental legislation for amphibians, and to spread the message and enthusiasm to others that we need your help.

Visit our Citizen Monitoring section where you can learn how to collect and submit monitoring data on amphibians in our local area.

During spring, summer and fall seasons NAMOS BC regularly schedules field tours to view amphibians and their habitats in the Prince George area. Keep posted to this website to learn about the events that we will be hosting in 2009. As we hold educational tours and host fun activities for children in our community, we will provide volunteer training so that you can learn how to assist in our amphibian monitoring projects. Our organization is developing participatory education programs such as 'pond-watch', 'frog-watch', or 'salamander-watch' so that you can make a difference. Each of these programs are described in our Education and Public Outreach section.

Most amphibians like to hide, so their real numbers and biomass is hidden from plain view. However, the combined biomass of amphibians often exceeds other vertebrates, such as birds and mammals. Amphibians are energetic organisms as they feed on invertebrates, cycle nutrients, and keep our wetland and forest ecosystems productively healthy. In 2004, the Global Amphibian Assessment reported 32% of all amphibian species threatened with extinction. Thousands of scientists continue to monitor species across the globe and contribute to the Living Planet Report.

Amphibians are contributing signficantly to this trend as they disappering faster than any other vertebrate group and are part of a disturbing trend with 23% of all mammals and 12% of bird species also being threatened with extinction. These losses greatly reduce and inhibit the sustainedwealth that is stored and rejuvinated by the living biomass of wetland and forested ecosystems. These ecosystems function through the actions of the the living creatures as they filter water clean, regulate the atmosphere, produce food, sustain natural resources such as timber, and nurture the health and culture of our communities. Unless the extinction crisis is resolved, climate change will continue because it is ecosystems that ultimately regulate the flow of carbon and other greenhouse gasses through the atmosphere. Please feel free to read through our Conservation Science pages where you can learn more about this issue and the local research we are doing to address it. Keep posted, because we continue to provide regular updates.

Ecology is the foundation of our research as we map distributions, population sizes, migration patterns, and breeding behaviors in relation to health, genetics, habitat and land practice. Our education program targets various age groups as we; teach, hire and mentor biology students at the University of Northern British Columbia; develop age-suited curricula about amphibian ecology; design information pamphlets or signs about amphibians in city parks; and host information booths where people can read about amphibians and learn how to report sightings. Strategic planning requires that NAMOS BC coordinate data sharing and other services to a network of individuals ranging from local volunteers to First Nations, government, universities, industry, and other non-profit organizations. Public outreach is in NAMOS BC’s mandate as we strive to conserve amphibians that are keystone elements sustaining the forestry based resource economy of British Columbia.