Wyoming toads

Visiting Saratoga National Fish Hatchery. In April of 2014, regional office employees visited Saratoga National Fish Hatchery to learn more about its efforts towards recovering the Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri). The hatchery adopted a unique role in becoming the first unit in the National Fish Hatchery System to become involved in rearing endangered amphibians. The Wyoming toad was a common sight on areas of the Laramie Plains, Albany County, Wyoming, into the early 1970s but the species' populations crashed in the mid-1970s. The Wyoming toad was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in January 1984. Found only in southwestern Wyoming, the Wyoming toad is considered the most endangered amphibian in North America. The hatchery maintains a captive population for breeding, rearing, and refugia, and the offspring from this program will be used for reintroduction efforts.