By Brandon
Loomis| The Salt Lake Tribune.Aug 27 2012 • To the other hikers, it might have
looked like a barefoot, summertime frolic on the banks of an alpine lake, but a
handful of faithful Utahns really were on a toad hunt for God.
Volunteers
from Interfaith Power & Light, an environmental coalition of churchgoers,
climbed past Albion Basin to Catherine Lake on Saturday in search of the rare
boreal toad. The U.S. Forest Service is unsure whether the creature lives
there, and the volunteers set out to help answer the question.
For the
agency, it’s strictly about maps and numbers — an effort to learn where the
four-inch amphibian persists and may need protection. It occupies 1 percent of
its historic breeding places and is under evaluation for Endangered Species Act
protections.
For the
volunteers, it’s about getting into God’s creation and taking action to save
it.
"More
and more we become so disconnected from nature," said Dale Ann Petersen, a
Bountiful Episcopalian who brought two children on the jaunt. "We might go
to church on Sunday, but I feel like we’re called to do more than that."
Plus, she
added, kids love frogs and toads.
Sadly for
them, they didn’t find any on Saturday. But that’s still potentially valuable
knowledge — just not great for the family photo album. The kids did see
wildlife, though, including a brook trout that they pointed out to a fly
fisherman who then hooked it in one cast.
Boreal toads,
like many of the world’s amphibians, are threatened by a fungus. Biologists
believe habitat protections can help reduce stress and can keep outbreaks in
check.
Interfaith
Power & Light is a nondenominational group in 38 states seeking to combat
climate change and install solar power generators on churches. But Susan
Soleil, executive director of the Utah branch, said a broad sampling of
environmental protections, including habitat preservation, are related to
climate and deserve the group’s attention.
"Learning
more about where [toads] live, we hope, will make people more passionate about
their faith and taking care of the Earth."
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