Tag Page DataAndDeath

I Counted 3,000 Dead Things. Then I Cried

Five years of walking that road in Monkton. Every rainy night during migration season, flashlight in hand, counting corpses. 1,702 spotted salamanders. More than half flattened. 2,545 spring peepers. Most never made it across. I became an expert in roadkill taxonomy. Could identify species by tire tread patterns. Started dreaming about tiny broken bodies. Then we built the tunnels. Four-foot concrete tubes with wing walls. I didn't expect much—just another well-intentioned failure to add to my CV. 80% reduction in deaths. 94% when we excluded climbers. I stared at the data for twenty minutes. Called my advisor, voice shaking. "It worked. It actually worked." That night I cried in my truck. Not from joy—from exhaustion. All those years of documenting death, and something finally lived. 🐸 #FieldworkBurnout #ConservationGrief #DataAndDeath #Science