A critically endangered frog is being given a second chance at survival due to an innovative partnership between Taronga Zoo and public school students in Tumbarumba.

The Booroolong frog, which fits in the palm of a hand, is in severe decline and can no longer be found in 50 per cent of its former range.

Less than 5,000 Booroolong frogs remain, with their numbers depleted by water pollution, habitat loss, herbicide and pesticide use, the deadly chytrid fungus disease and climate change.

But last year Taronga Zoo bred 600 of the native amphibians and released them into Maragle Creek near Tumbarumba.

Seventy students in Years 6 and 8 at Tumbarumba’s primary and secondary schools hopped at the chance to become ambassadors for the frogs, participating in a conservation workshop at the zoo with amphibian experts who were the first in the world to breed and release the Booroolong frog.

On their return to their Snowy Mountains’ town, the students assisted in creek bed regeneration, water analysis, tree planting and educating the community about the threats facing the frogs.

A Tumbarumba High student involved in the project, 13-yearold Jesse R, said she had never seen a Booroolong frog before the zoo visit, even though it was once widespread throughout the area.

“I will keep a look out for one and tell my parents how we can help save the species by building frog ponds and making habitat frog-friendly,” she said.

Project Booroolong, as it is known, culminated in a frog conservation exhibition in Tumbarumba where students showed major works. One striking entry was a frog mural painted on the side of the vet’s clinic.

Lois Elliott, community liaison officer for Tumbarumba High School, said the project was an important middle school initiative that gave older students leadership skills and made the younger students familiar with the high school environment.

Year 8 students mentored Year 6 students and worked in groups to research and produce works for the exhibition, held last November.

“We are so proud of the children. The Year 8 students took responsibility for looking after the younger kids. They were like clucky hens with their little brood,” she said.

The frogs so captured the students’ imagination that one group applied to the local council for funding to build a frog statue in the town, Ms Elliott said.

A Taronga Zoo education officer, David Smith, said Project Booroolong was developed to encourage students to educate their communities about living sustainably while providing them with practical ways to be involved in flora and fauna protection.

Taronga Zoo amphibian expert Michael McFadden, who is involved in the Booroolong frog breeding and release program, said all frog species required special care “because they breathe through their skin and are very sensitive to light, heat, water quality and pollutants in the air”.

In Australia, 47 of the 220 native frog species are considered endangered. But with the help of the Tumbarumba youngsters, there are high hopes that the Booroolong frog will again hop happily along the banks of local waterways.