I have spent the last few days working on a few designs for shirts, hats and other apparel for the PA HERP ID site and a few other designs for another store. We are giving Cafepress a run to see how they go for these new products. You can check out the new stores and the products by going to the store link and then selecting the store you would like to view. The links will take you to the CafePress sites where you can view and buy the new products. We hope to see you promoting the new products, $3-$5 (that is the mark up price on each item) pre-sale will go back in to the site and other projects we are currently working on.

In the next week or so I will be also looking at donation a part of sales to one of the PA Conservation Programs. I will have more news on this in days to come.

Example Products:

New updates and news from Tim Maret of the PA HERP ATLAS. I’m glad to see more participation and that the project is running smoothly. Check the site out to learn how you can help with the project.

Hello,
After spending much of the summer out in the field looking for amphibians and reptiles, I spent much of last week updating the maps on the Pennsylvania Online Herpetological Atlas website (http://webspace.ship.edu/tjmare/herp.htm). I made it through all of the species except for box and wood turtles. There is a lot more data for these two species than for any other species, and I probably won’t have their maps updated until early September. Here are few interesting statistics:

- We have several new county records. I only counted it as a record if there was a photograph to allow positive identification. We have 3 new county records for the four-toed salamander, two for the marbled salamander, and one each for the queen snake and ribbon snake. Look at the distribution maps to see which counties.

- Besides the box and wood turtle, the top five species reported are: timber rattlesnakes 28, queen snakes 28, spotted turtles (14), four-toed salamanders (13), and Fowler’s toads (12). Note that if you reported multiple individuals on the same day in the same place, it counted as a single submission.

- The mountain chorus frog is “back from the dead”. After about 30 years of no reports, we have had three reports to the atlas project (2 with photos).

- There is a disturbing absence of reports for some of the frog species. We have absolutely no recent submissions for the other chorus frogs (New Jersey, upland, western) or cricket frog. People I talk to are just not seeing them. Not too long ago, they used to be common.

- The large number of reports of box and wood turtles is encouraging. Although the consensus seems to be that they are not as common as they used to be, they appear to be doing well in some areas.

This fall, I’ll have a student assistant helping me again. This should allow me to keep the webpage and maps to date and respond more quickly to questions and comments. Every once in a while, the university’s spam detector seems to grab a random e-mail or submission. I try to catch these, but I’m sure I miss a few (I’m sure I also misplace a few myself). If you don’t see your submission on the map, or didn’t hear back from me on a question or concern, please let me know. I have about a dozen pictures that were submitted without any information, and have no way of knowing who they came from.

I’ll be updating the photo page soon. If you haven’t looked at it, you really should! We have some great herp photographers out there. If you have any pictures you want to add, just e-mail them to me. They do not have to be species of concern. Give me until early September to get them posted. If I post your photo(s), it is with your permission. You still retain the copyright.

If you look at the updated maps, you may notice that they look fuzzy or are missing lines. If that is the case, click on the map. The map should show up at its full size, and the images should clear up. I don’t know enough about webpage design to correct this.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to all of you who are participating in this project and emphasize its importance. For many of these species, this is the only data being gathered on their abundance and distribution. The information that you submit is forwarded to the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, where it is made available to state agency personnel for planning and conservation purposes. With that in mind, I’d like to ask your help in increasing the participation. Please share the webpage with your friends and colleagues, and encourage them to submit information. Now that the late summer heat has set in and most of the herps are hiding, please take the time to submit your findings from this spring and summer.

As always, I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions. One of the fun aspects of the project has been answering questions and trying to ID critters in some of the photos that have been sent. So please keep in touch. I’ll be out of the office until mid-August, but will around after that. Enjoy the rest of the summer and happy herping!

Tim

This week I did a few update on the site. I added the PA STATUS of each species from a few people that emailed me and wanted to see this information on the site.

Also, added in the books was the DVD order forms and information for the Natural History Programs on Snakes and Amphibians of PA from Tom Diez. These DVDs come highly recommended, so if you get a chance download the order form and order your copies.

Thanks to Bob Ferguson for his donation to the site. Donations are always welcome and are really helping out a lot to get business cards and supplies to mail them out to all of the people that have requested them so far. At the moment I have already sent out over  300 cards state wide. If you requested yours they should arrive by the middle of the week. Thanks for all who have volunteer to be apart of the process. I still have a bunch of cards, so if you would like to receive a few contact me with your mailing address.

We are working hard on new ideas and future projects and items, and hope to be able to release this information to you soon. There is a lot of work involved, so stay tuned for more information on that.

I have had a lot of great emails. I always like hearing from everyone so if you have a comment or suggestion, go over to the contact page and send me your thoughts.

Have a great week, and Happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there.

Thanks to a generous donation from one of our friends Kyle Loucks we ordered the first shipment of printed cards that are now being send out to volunteers and field herpetologist though out the state to pass on the word about the site to anyone that has questions about the reptiles and amphibians of PA. If you would like to be added to the list use our contact page and send your mailing address and I will send you a few of the cards.

At the current time I am working on the PA HERP ID Brochure. The Brochure will have information on the PA HERP Site, How to help with conservation, and Information on other projects to help with conservation. I will keep you updated on the status of the brochure and post photos soon in the Sponsorship page.

Thanks for everyone’s time and help.