What is Big Night in the Blackstone Valley?

During the first warm rainy night of Spring, when the air temperature warms to forty degrees fahrenheit...BIG NIGHT has begun! On BIG NIGHT, spotted salamanders and wood frogs climb out of their underground burrows and return to their birth pools ( known as vernal pools) to mate and lay their eggs.

Unfortunately, Big Night can quickly become Big Squish Night as these creatures slither and hop across wet, darkened roads to reach their vernal pools. That's why Naturalists from Massachusetts Audubon Society, Rangers from the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, and our volunteers become involved. On the first warm rainy night of spring, volunteer "critter crossing guards" don reflective rain gear and are sent out on their mission to help the salamanders and wood frogs safely cross the roads.