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CHRIS JULIN: The sun is going down. Regina Kijak and Matt Christiansen are driving a bumpy dirt road, outside the town of Two Harbors.

REGINA KIJAK: OK, what do we look for now?

CHRIS JULIN: Once in a while, there's a dirt crossroad. Now and then, there's a house in a clearing. But mostly, what you see are spruce trees.

MATT CHRISTIANSEN: I think this is it.

CHRIS JULIN: Matt and Regina have a map from the DNR and a list of 10 places to stop along the road. The first stop's several miles inland from Lake Superior. They climb out of their station wagon. It's still twilight. The ditch on either side of the road is a mucky soup of water and brown vegetation. Regina takes notes. It's 7:45 PM. There's no wind. And the temperature is 40 degrees. It's pretty chilly for frog singing, but they listen. After a couple of minutes, the quiet breaks.

[GEESE CALLING]

Two geese, but no frogs yet. Minnesota is home to 14 species of frogs and toads. It's mating season, and each species has a distinctive call. So the survey is a simple, low tech way to get a sense of where frogs live and a rough idea of how many there are. And that's an indication of how healthy the water is.

Regina and Matt say they're worried about frogs. They've read news stories about frog deformities in Minnesota. This is the first time they've volunteered for the frog and toad survey. So Regina's been studying frog calls. Different species call at different times. In early spring, the DNR asks volunteers to concentrate on just four species of frogs.

REGINA KIJAK: They do send you a tape that you can listen to. But then after that, you just use your ears.

CHRIS JULIN: Did you spend some time with the tape?

MATT CHRISTIANSEN: She did it.

REGINA KIJAK: I did.

MATT CHRISTIANSEN: I didn't.

[LAUGHTER]

But we talked, and she's told me how they sound like by mimicking their sounds. And she does a good job of that.

REGINA KIJAK: So the four frogs that we're listening for are the spring peeper, the wood frog, the northern leopard frog, and the chorus frog. And the chorus frog sounds like someone running their finger along a plastic comb. I can't imitate it too well, but you probably know that sound. The wood frog sounds like ducks.

[IMITATES DUCKS QUACKING]

The spring peeper just sounds like birds peeping. Peep, peep, peep, in one second intervals. And then the northern leopard frog sounds like a creaking door, or like a very long, drawn out snore.

CHRIS JULIN: They heard a few scattered wood frogs in the distance here at the first stop. Regina makes some notes. Then she and Matt get back in the car. It's about a mile to the next stop.

MATT CHRISTIANSEN: I think this is it.

REGINA KIJAK: OK, quiet.

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

MATT CHRISTIANSEN: Quite a group we got.

REGINA KIJAK: Yeah, it is a good group. I'm going to put number 3.

CHRIS JULIN: Regina writes down a number for each species. At this stop, peepers get a 3, meaning a steady chorus of frog song. Wood frogs get a 1. That means occasional individual calls. Regina will make the same kind of notes at each stop on the route. About 300 volunteers have done the same thing all over the state this spring. They'll all be back on the road again in late May and once more at the end of June.

The DNR collects all the data in Minnesota. The US Geological Survey collects numbers from around the country. This is only the eighth year of the survey, so it's too early to draw conclusions. But biologists at the DNR say the information will be helpful when there's more of it. It's a rare chance for regular folks to take part in real science. Chris Julin, Minnesota Public Radio, outside of Two Harbors.