History

Amphibian Conservation Alliance was founded in 1997 in Berkeley, California by environmentalist Paul S. Speck, Jr. in consultation with renowned herpetologist and leading amphibian conservation spokesman Dr. David B. Wake.

According to Speck:

"I knew that a quiet environmental catastrophe was taking place, having monitored the global amphibian decline problem since 1991, and having watched with alarm as increasing numbers of malformed frogs were reported starting in 1995.  I knew from my previous environmental work that none of the major U.S. environmental groups was addressing these problems in any way, and I was informed by David Wake that the herpetological research community could use help funding research, educating the public, and promoting constituencies of policymakers, businesses and people to address the amphibian decline and deformities problems. A need existed for an organization permanently committed to doing critical amphibian conservation work that no other national or international environmental and advocacy group at the time even was contemplating."

In 1997, with start-up grants from W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Starfire Fund, and several others, Amphibian Conservation Alliance came into existence.

In 1998, Amphibian Conservation Alliance launched its website FROGS.ORG, a feature-rich Internet resource for visitors to learn about amphibians and participate in amphibian conservation.  ACA also originated the idea and wrote a formal proposal to create the world's first comprehensive and up-to-date online database of amphibian biology and conservation information.  The proposed database was called AmphibiaNet, and it was envisioned to be part of FROGS.ORG.  At its first in-person meeting ever, which took place early that year, ACA's board of directors voted to create AmphibiaNet, in cooperation with Dr. David Wake and other researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.  A prototype was built in May that was presented to then-Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt in June, after which grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Association, Turner Foundation, and others soon enabled AmphibiaNet to become fully operational. That fall, in order to allow AmphibiaNet to function as a wholly scientific enterprise without any impediments that might emanate from its association with an advocacy organization, ACA removed itself from the governance of AmphibiaNet, which then was renamed AmphibiaWeb. Today, AmphibiaWeb is an important scientific resource and a leading destination for amphibian researchers on the Internet.

In 1999, thanks to a gift from Mr. John Wagers of Oakland, California, ACA opened its first professional office, hired its first paid staff, and began substantially expanding its programs.  Among other things, ACA began actively pushing for substantial new federal funding for amphibian monitoring and research on declines and deformities. The organization became the only environmental group ever to undertake such work, and with leadership from key federal agency personnel and the scientific community, the efforts were successful.

In 1999 and 2000, ACA conducted some conservation in its own backyard.  The organization assembled a large quantity of unpublished field data from several dozen national forests, national parks and other lands in our home state of California documenting that the state's famous Yosemite toad and mountain yellow-legged frog had declined precipitously in recent years.  We passed the data along to the Consultative Group on Biodiversity, an environmental group that specializes in legal work, and the Consultative Group on Biodiversity then filed successful petitions to protect the Yosemite toad and the mountain yellow-legged frog under the federal Endangered Species Act.

In 2001, ACA reviewed its short but growing list of successes, surveyed the vast range of challenges still facing amphibian conservation, and decided that the organization could achieve its maximum impact only if we relocated our headquarters from California to Washington, D.C.  Thus, in fall 2001, ACA formed a relationship with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a leading philanthropic organization, and opened up our current office with five staff in Arlington, Virginia, just meters away from downtown Washington, D.C.

Today, just a handful of years since its creation, ACA has become an important contributor to amphibian conservation efforts now and in the future.

• ACA is working with World Wildlife Fund to develop and promote specific, viable and worthwhile policy solutions to amphibian decline and deformity problems.
• Our website, FROGS.ORG, attracts over 1 million unique visitors per year, making it one of the best-known amphibian conservation resources in the world.
• The organization has a growing roster of dues-paying members helping to keep it on strong financial footing, and
• With the assistance of additional leading scientists and environmental leaders, including Dr. Tyrone B. Hayes and George T. Frampton, Jr., Esq., ACA's leadership is stronger than ever.

We believe that Amphibian Conservation Alliance is poised to play a leading role promoting amphibian conservation in the United States and worldwide for years to come.

Our success depends on the support of communities, businesses and people like you, so please consider supporting ACA today!