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Smith & Bybee Lake Painted Turtle Monitoring: In 2000, a five-year research study of the painted turtle population in Metro-owned and managed Smith & Bybee Lakes. The study, which involves large numbers of volunteers, is being coordinated by the Northwest Ecological Research Institute. Fifteen zoo staff and volunteers made regular visits to the lakes last summer to trap and monitor turtles in this large urban wetland area.

Heron Nesting Surveys: Twice in April of 2000, zoo staff and volunteers participated in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys of heron nests along the Columbia River.

Spotted Frog Egg Mass Survey and Population Monitoring: In the spring of 2000, staff and volunteers met at Conboy Lake NWR and spent two days locating frog egg masses for research supervised by Dr. Marc Hayes, zoo research associate. In the fall of 2000, another group, consisting mainly of staff, traveled to the Umpqua River Basin to catch, weigh and measure spotted frogs for another study.