We are fifth graders in Mrs. Barbara Osburn’s class at Millstone River School. Last summer, we found out that 18 states have a state amphibian but New Jersey doesn’t. We proposed to state Senator Greenstein and Assemblyman Benson to designate the Pine Barrens Treefrog as New Jersey’s state amphibian. They were very supportive.
The Pine Barrens Treefrog is one of the most beautiful American frogs and exists only in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Florida, and the Carolinas. It’s the symbol of NJ wildlife species and the Pinelands National Reserve. The Pine Barrens Treefrog appears on the Pinelands license plate and on the cover of many NJ wildlife publications. In 1983, it was painted by Andy Warhol. Due to the success of Pineland Protection Act, it was upgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” and was New Jersey’s “Species of the Month” in 2003.
We wrote to wildlife naturalists, visited the NJ Audubon Society, Herpetological Associates, and made a presentation to the Pinelands Commission. They all endorsed our proposal.
Mrs. Osburn wrote a petition and has collected signatures from hundreds of students. Greenstein and Benson visited our school and talked to 250 students about how a bill becomes a law. They introduced the bill S351/A2292 recently. We urge more legislators to co-sponsor the bill. The bill will make more people know about the Pinelands and help conserve the Garden State’s endangered species.
Andrew and Brian Zhong
