Industrial Waste in the Frog Pond

Thank you Kate for allowing me to show your beautiful artwork and inspire children to learn about frogs through drawing and observation.

Photo Credit: Frog Bubbles
used by permission from Kate O.

One day we were out looking for Frog Eggs in the early Vermont spring. We took a long walk in the woods and came to vernal pool but found a very strange sight. At the far end of the pond, with deep mud all around was a large mass of white foamy looking stuff.

We looked in the water close to the shore but there were no frog eggs to be seen. All we could think of was some sort of industrial waste.

What could it be? We discussed it for quite a while. Were there any industrial plants nearby? What could be the source of the pollution?

We scanned the area. There were trees, dead leaves on the ground. The pool was nearly black except for this mound of fluffy, dirty looking foam piled up on the further side of the pond.

We listened and noticed that we were far enough from the road that we couldn't hear any traffic let alone trucks or factory sounds.

We wondered how far they must have piped this waste and wondered how toxic it was. There was no sign of frog eggs let alone tadpoles.

We then decided that we needed to make our way around the pond to see for ourselves what this waste looked like and maybe determine what it was made of.

It was difficult to get there but burning with curiosity we finally made it over to the stuff...

Look for the answer towards the bottom of this lens.