SCARLET SNAKE, © Ryan McGreevy
A Message from our Executive Director
Recovery does not happen quickly.
It isn’t a single release of headstarted individuals, a single grant, a single restoration, or even a single year of effort. It is patient, deliberate work carried out over time, often in uncertainty, often in difficult conditions, and often without recognition. It requires showing up, again and again, in the places where it matters most.Across the country, landscapes are shifting. Habitats are fragmenting. Climate patterns are becoming less predictable. And many of our partners have less capacity to show up. Amphibians and reptiles, species that depend on stability more than most, are feeling those changes first and most intensely. Their declines are not isolated events; they are early signals of broader ecosystem stress.
Recovery is not just about bringing species back but rebuilding resilience into the systems that support them. At the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC), this is the work we are built to do: to be the steady hand that shows up for recovery and resiliency.
ARC is operating with both reach and precision, expanding programs while becoming more targeted in where and how we act. We are building the capacity to respond when conditions change, when opportunities emerge, and when urgent action is needed.
Because recovery is not static. It demands flexibility. It demands consistency.
On the ground, that means adjusting strategies in real time, whether shifting field efforts due to drought or responding to storm-driven habitat loss. In some cases, it means acting before a species disappears entirely.
At a broader scale, it means building systems that allow us to be more responsive and more effective over time. This year, ARC continued strengthening partnerships, expanding private lands work, and developing new tools and frameworks to guide conservation where it will have the greatest impact.
This is what a steady hand looks like in practice. It is prepared. It is focused. And it is not limited to a single place or project. It is applied wherever recovery is still possible.
We are strengthening our ability to do this work at scale. And scaling conservation is not just about doing more. It is about doing it well.
That means connecting national strategy to local implementation. And it means ensuring that every action contributes to long-term recovery, not just short-term wins.
There is a great deal of progress reflected in this report, new programs, key hires, and expanding impact across PARCAs (Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas). ARC is showing up where it matters, and we are staying long enough to make a difference.
That kind of work requires support.
Your support gives us the flexibility to act when it counts, stay engaged for the long term, and invest in the systems that make recovery possible.
Recovery takes a steady hand. And because of you, ARC can provide it. Together, we are ensuring that amphibians and reptiles, and the ecosystems they anchor, can keep moving towards recovery and resilience.
With gratitude,
JJ Apodaca
Table of Contents
© Grace Laskey
A National Strategy for Recovery Across PARCAs
© Maya Morales
Recovery starts with knowing where to stand. Not every place carries the same weight when it comes to conservation. There are places across the country that are disproportionately important for the recovery of amphibians and reptiles.
These critical strongholds, known as PARCAs, are identified through a rigorous process that blends cutting-edge science with on-the-ground expertise.
By zeroing in on the places where conservation can have the greatest impact, we are able to take a steady, strategic approach, working not just to protect individual species, but to rebuild the ecosystems they depend on. That means healthier wetlands, forests, and grasslands, with benefits that extend far beyond amphibians and reptiles to entire biological communities and the people connected to these landscapes.
Our actions are deliberate and targeted, but their impact doesn’t stay contained. Restoring a wetland improves water quality downstream. Stabilizing a population strengthens genetic resilience across a region. Rebuilding habitat in one PARCA can reconnect fragmented landscapes and create pathways for recovery well beyond its boundaries.
From the Southern Appalachians to the deserts of the Southwest, each PARCA represents both urgency and opportunity. These are places where species are under pressure but where recovery is still within reach if we act quickly and strategically.
2025 Conservation Plans by PARCA
© Steph Haan-Amato
335
PARCAs identified across the US
15
PARCAs added
35
PARCAs with boots on the ground
13
US states with active projects
156
Partners Supporting PARCAs Nationwide
The Apalachicola and St. Marks PARCAs in Florida’s Panhandle were once dominated by widely spaced longleaf and slash pines with patches of southern wiregrass and wildflowers interspersed. Now, some of these landscapes look so overgrown that it’s hard to imagine bringing them back to the open forests they once were, where imperiled gopher tortoises and red-cockaded woodpeckers thrived.
Longleaf pine ecosystems historically experienced frequent, low-intensity fires. Without regular fire, dense woody plants take over, forming such a thick understory that native plants can no longer grow, including the species that amphibians and reptiles need.
In recent decades, millions of acres of longleaf pine have been replanted, helping restore much of the forest framework. But planting trees only gets us part way to a functioning ecosystem.
Seasonal ponds and other wetlands within these forests are especially important for the life cycles of frogs and salamanders, but because of the reduced frequency of fires, they now require more active management to remain functional.
In these PARCAs, we’re using mechanical thinning and manual removal to reduce undergrowth of plants like wax myrtle and swamp titi, along with invasive plants such as privet and climbing fern. These species can overtake wetlands and woodlands, shading out plants that amphibians use to lay their eggs and changing the water cycles of these habitats.
With restoration, these systems show just how resilient they can be. In the resulting open wetlands and healthy longleaf pine habitats, native plants, amphibians, reptiles, and other wildlife have the conditions needed for their recovery.
Among the species benefiting from these restoration efforts is the frosted flatwoods salamander, one of North America’s most at-risk amphibians. With only a handful of populations remaining in the wild, the seasonal wetlands these salamanders rely on for breeding are essential to their survival.
To give them a fighting chance, we’re headstarting frosted flatwoods salamanders. Eggs are collected from the wild and transported to controlled environments, where they develop into larvae (like tadpoles) protected from predators and poor conditions before being released back into restored wetlands. This significantly increases their odds of survival and helps bolster populations where habitat conditions are improving.
This work reflects what makes the PARCA approach effective. Recovery depends on restoring the ecological conditions species evolved with, then applying targeted actions to help populations that have become too small or vulnerable to rebound on their own. Across these Florida Panhandle landscapes, that means rebuilding habitat, strengthening vulnerable populations, and working with public and private partners to recover one of the Southeast’s most biologically important places.
