Every summer Western Toads breed in wetlands in Chilliwack’s Ryder Lake neighbourhood. The tadpoles metamorphose into tiny toadlets that are no bigger than a dime! Toadlets use the buddy system, moving en masse from the wetlands to nearby forests. On their journey, they encounter roads that separate the wetland from their forest homes and must risk their lives trying to cross.

Since 2015, the FVC has supported this migration, installing an amphibian-friendly culvert “toad tunnel” under the road that allows toadlets to safely cross the road. Every year, fencing is installed to direct these tiny toadlets toward the culvert.

Hundreds of thousands of toadlet lives have been saved by the installation of the culvert and accompanying fencing, but there are always toadlets who manage to escape through the fencing and find themselves on the road.

The voluntary detour is important for saving the lives of hundreds of toadlets who manage to reach the road.