During the night of March 15th, Steve Clegg our Environmental Stewardship Coordinator went out for this seasons first night-time amphibian monitoring session and found 68 amphibians from 6 different species on the road in Ryder Lake, Chilliwack. 87% of the amphibians found were killed by vehicles including females carrying up to 16,500 eggs. The Western Toads, Red-legged Frogs, Pacific Treefrogs, Rough-skinned Newts, Northwestern Salamanders, and Western Red-backed Salamanders all make three yearly migrations between different habitat types. This recent monitoring session marked the beginning of the first adult migration of the year towards the breeding wetland. As they travel, they are forced to cross local roads and face vehicular mortality.

There will be no road closures to protect the adult amphibians, like we have for the juveniles, because the adults cross for a longer period of time and over a larger geographic area. Residents and visitors can still reduce the harm to amphibians by choosing to take Ryder Lake Rd and Huston Rd instead of Elk View Rd during wet evenings when the crossings are densest.

For more information, or to volunteer for monitoring, contact the Fraser Valley Conservancy or sign up for our volunteer news and we will send out notifications when Steve goes out to monitor.