Elizabeth Swain listens for frogs as she sits next to Bare Hill Pond during a frog count on April 5. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

The word is in from the Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee: There are lots of frogs in Bare Hill Pond this year, more than in any recent year. This was last confirmed during the frog count conducted by the committee on April 5.

The frog count, conducted two to three times between late March and early May, is one of the ways in which the committee measures the ecological health of the pond, a responsibility it has by virtue of the “Order of Conditions” from the Conservation Commission for the annual pond drawdown. Another way the committee fulfills that obligation is by way of a turtle count at the pond.

According to Pond Committee member Jeff Ritter, data from the frog counts, which have been conducted for about 15 years, is reported annually to the Conservation Commission, which in turn reports it to the federal government.

Ritter says that, although the frog population is high, volunteerism for the count is low, but acknowledges that publicizing the dates for the count is difficult.

“Dates are determined by the frogs,” he says. “We have to wait for a damp, warm evening and for the next series of frogs to start mating. The dates tend to be about two weeks apart, but it varies.”

But, he says, if groups want to conduct a count, they can be trained to do so, and can do a count almost any time, as long as there is activity worth “counting.”