Biosphere Reserves serve as testing sites for Biodiversity Conservation

Helping Herpetofauna in the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve and the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

- Submitted by the Association of Wetland Stewards for Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds

The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve, situated on the north shore of Lake Erie, has several things in common with the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Both are located in remarkable ecosystems and encompass long uninterrupted beaches, sand dunes, wet meadows, woodlands, marshes, streams and shallow protected bays. Their diverse habitats provide world-renowned refuges and stopovers for migrating birds in fall and spring. Another thing they have in common is a problem. Large numbers of herpetofauna are killed on the main access roads travelled to reach each of these Biosphere Reserves.
A 3.6-km two-laned paved causeway joins the mainland to the Long Point sand spit that juts into Lake Erie. The causeway, first built in 1926, fragments what was once continuous wetland habitat, in an incredibly productive area. Consequently, the causeway takes its toll on hundreds to thousands of frogs, turtles, and snakes trying to cross it each year.
A 32-km two-laned paved highway crosses the coastal flats and leads people to Tofino at the heart of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Highway 4 separates lush forest and wetland habitats that frogs and salamanders move between seasonally. The death toll on it also ranges in the hundreds to thousands each year, most of it occurring in a 1.6-km section 500 m from a 4-ha wetland.
With similar mandates to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainability within their Biosphere Reserves, both the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation and the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust are involved in helping to find solutions that will reduce roadkill and reconnect habitats across their roads. The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation is coordinating a multi-partnered Long Point Causeway Improvement Project that, among other things, aims to provide passageways that will give wildlife the opportunity to move safely under the Causeway. The Clayoquot Biosphere Trust is helping the Association of Wetland Stewards for Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds reach a similar goal on Highway 4. The Wetland Stewards just installed an experimental amphibian passageway in collaboration with the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, last spring.
Barb Beasley, Chair of the Association of Wetland Stewards for Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds traveled to Long Point to meet with Rick Levick, Coordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project in November. They spent an afternoon comparing notes about each other’s projects. Here’s a summary of some of the things they shared.
Learning where species are being killed:
Both projects involve extensive surveys of the highway to find out where animals are most often killed. Surveyors clad in safety vests walk slowly, recording the location, species, age and sex of each animal, alive or dead on the road. Live animals are coaxed off the road and dead ones are removed so that they won’t get counted twice. Consistent protocols have been used at each site over time. Long Point has the longer time period covered – the first surveys there were done in the late 1970’s. The Clayoquot counts began in 2001. The results of these surveys help to pinpoint where to install mitigation structures.
Number of herpetofauna species killed:
Clayoquot has seven species – two frogs, four salamanders and one snake. Long Point has 17 species – seven frogs, five turtles and five snakes! There simply are a lot more species of turtles and snakes living in the warmer, drier climate of Ontario than along the wet coast of B.C.
Several of the species killed on Long Point’s causeway are listed as species at risk. Only one of Clayoquot’s species is listed.
Type of species most often killed on the road:
Frogs are killed most frequently in both places. In Clayoquot, the Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) tops the charts, at Long Point it is the Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens).
Approaches taken to reduce mortality: signage
Long Point folks began by installing signs to make drivers aware of turtles crossing. Rick feels that the signs really help the turtles – he has watched several drivers stop and move turtles off the causeway, especially during the daytime. Rick says that they had to switch from using crossing signs that showed a cute turtle drawing to ones with just words. The signs with turtles were constantly being stolen.
The Clayoquot folks have never installed signs, although one overzealous volunteer once chalked out the word “feed”, and replaced it with “squish” on the “It is unlawful to ____ wildlife” sign in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve! Frogs and salamanders are small and difficult to see, especially because they move at night. Barb thinks signs would be ineffective at reducing roadkill on Highway 4, but agrees that they would increase public awareness of the problem.
Barrier fences
Both projects have installed barrier fencing to prevent animals from crossing the road and becoming roadkill. At Long Point the 3-km of fencing has reduced roadkill on the causeway by about 50%. Clayoquot’s fences are set up in three discrete 90-m sections and frogs and salamanders caught along each fence are carried across and released on the opposite side of the highway. Over 500 animals have been carried across each year since 2005. This is two to five times more than the numbers killed in 90-m unfenced sections of road. It appears that many amphibians successfully avoid the cars when they cross, but it may be that their carcasses don’t last on the road long enough to be counted. The Clayoquot project is focused on finding out whether their passageway works, before they install more fencing.
In both places one of the main concerns is the durability of fences. Long Point Causeway gets a lot of snow and wind so they’ve positioned the fences several meters from the side of the road. It only takes a little bit of snow-blowing equipment to flatten fences on the side of Highway 4, so Barb thinks she will follow Long Point’s example and place future fences further away from the edges of Highway 4.
Ecopassages:
Each project wants to restore connectivity by installing passageways that will allow wildlife to move safely under the roadways. Both Rick and Barb are considering the results from other projects around the world to design culverts and tunnels that have features important to their species of concern – large enough interiors to let in lots of light, good airflow, and natural substrates. There also have to be enough passageways to handle dispersal along the entire length of road.
The Wetland Stewards and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure installed a carefully chosen pre-cast concrete box culvert with funnel guiding fences at Highway 4 in May 2011. Now, they are busy monitoring how well it works. Barb has images of frogs, salamanders, mice, mink and even a black bear moving through it, but, so far, the numbers of frogs and salamanders are not as high as expected. They will continue monitoring to see if more amphibians begin to use it over time.
Preparations are underway to install three passageways under the Long Point Causeway in 2012. They will include two alternative types of terrestrial culverts – a precast concrete box culverts and an open grate culvert. These will be monitored to compare how well they function.
Rick was interested in seeing the sequence of photos showing the steps and timing of the Clayoquot culvert installation. He was happy to learn that traffic delays were managed smoothly and only lasted a few days.
The Long Point and Clayoquot Sound projects provide great opportunities to test and compare a variety of approaches for conserving biodiversity in Canada. Being part of a network of biosphere reserves helped the people involved in these projects to connect and learn from each other. It will also help them share information more widely.
To learn more visit: www.longpointcauseway.com and www.splatfrogtunnel.blogspot.com

Saving wildlife at Long Point

By DANIEL PEARCE, SIMCOE REFORMER

It’s taken five years of planning, fundraising — and arguing with opponents — but environmentalists are now one step closer to creating a safe passage for wildlife underneath the Long Point Causeway.

Drawings have been completed showing three spots where concrete underground culverts will be built to allow turtles, frogs, and snakes to migrate back and forth between the marsh and the inner bay.

The plan has undergone an environmental study, which was presented to Norfolk council Tuesday night. A 30-day review period will now take place after which construction can begin.

When they’re finished, the culverts will help alleviate an environmental disaster along the causeway, a narrow two-lane strip that takes motorists from the mainland to Long Point.

The stretch is considered to have the fifth worst roadkill rate in the world for turtles, many of them from species at risk, said Stephen Burnett of S. Burnett & Associates Limited, the firm that did the environmental study.

To entice animals to use the culverts instead of the road, soil and plant matter will be put into the underground passages while air and sunlight will come in from grates at road level, Burnett said.

The three crossings will also allow for an increased exchange of water between the marsh on the west and the bay on the east.

“Experts that were part of our team feel there are no issues associated with draining the bay. It’s already connected in several places,” noted Burnett.

Improving the flow between the two bodies of water will actually help the health of both the bay and the marsh, said Rick Levick of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, the group behind the culverts.

But not everybody is happy with the plan.

Stu Ross of the Friends of the Causeway Association warned council that the true impact on the marsh remains unknown.

“Poking holes in the road will cause more rapid draining” than in the past while the best way to prevent roadkill remains using fencing, not culverts, Ross said.

The county must approve the work because it owns the road, but Levick noted the cost has been covered from the $750,000 his group has raised, including grants from government bodies.

The culverts need to be added, he said. If the causeway was being built today, he noted, “it wouldn’t be allowed to pass without proper eco-passages” for wildlife.

Levick’s group has been working on plans to upgrade the causeway for five years. Volunteers erected low-level fencing to prevent animals from going on the road and flashing signs warning motorists to watch for turtles.

Those moves alone dropped mortality rates on the causeway by half and 60% for some species at risk, he said.

Plans also call for the addition of bike paths and lookout spots along the causeway.

Ecosystem gets green

By BARBARA SIMPSON, SIMCOE REFORMER

Ecological projects benefitting the Long Point wetland have received cash from south of the border.
The U.S.-based Sustain Our Great Lakes has presented a $110,000 grant to the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project and the Long Point Waterfowlers’ Association. Both organizations work to improve ecological conditions on the land spit.
The long anticipated ecopassage project in particular will benefit from the funding. Three culverts are expected to be installed underneath the Long Point Causeway, allowing aquatic wildlife to safely travel from Big Creek Marsh to Long Point Bay.
The project is undergoing an environmental assessment.
“The (environmental assessment) process is quite lengthy,” said Rick Levick, co-ordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project. “Right now, we are waiting for the draft report prepared by the consultant for the county.”
Once the draft report is complete, it will go before Norfolk council. A 30-day public comment period follows. Feedback will be included in a final report to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
Installation of the culverts is expected to take place during the off-season.
“We’re looking at next year (for the installation), but the funding is for 18 to 24 months,” Levick said.
The work of the community organization has already reduced the amount of animal deaths along the causeway. Roadkill of snakes and turtles has dropped 50% over the last three years and 60% for species at risk.
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project has installed temporary fencing, monitors roadkill levels and operates signs.
“We’ve made people aware of the issue,” Levick said.
The eco-passage project already has a $200,000 grant from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program.
The Long Point Waterfowlers’ Association is expected to use its part of the funding to create more open water at the Crown Marsh. President Jim Malcolm could not be reached for comment as of press time.
The Sustain Our Great Lakes program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It is funded through a variety of partners, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and mining company ArcelorMittal.

Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Receives $110,000 Grant

The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve is getting a boost from the Sustain our Great Lakes Program.
The Biosphere is one of 30 organizations receiving a total of 940 thousand dollars with the organization taking home $110,000.
The money will go towards the improvement of aquatic connectivity and fish passage between Big Creek Marsh and Long Point Bay by installing a large culvert or eco-passage under the Long Point Causeway.

Causeway Project vies for $100,000 grant

By Monte Sonnenburg, Simcoe Reformer

June 17 — The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is in the running for a $100,000 grant from Shell Canada.

The project is one of 54 across the country that Shell Canada has short-listed for its $1 million FuellingChange program.

Under the program, Shell Canada leaves it to Canadians to decide which projects are worth the largest possible grant. All projects have qualified for at least a $10,000 payout.

Depending on the level of support they receive from the Canadian public, projects could qualify for grants of $25,000 or $50,000. The two projects with the highest number of votes will receive $100,000. Voting ends at noon, Oct. 31.

Shell Canada will award 10 votes to anyone who goes to its website and sets up a profile page. Shell customers are awarded additional votes on a coded receipt when they fill up at participating stations. It is up to customers to get into the habit of inputting this information at the appropriate website between now and the contest deadline.

“I’ve been buying all my gasoline at Shell stations since the contest began,” Rick Levick of Toronto, coordinator of the Long Point causeway project, said in an email.

The contest kicked off in early May.

As of Thursday, the Canadian Commuter Challenge in Calgary, Alta., was sitting at No. 1 with 4,584 votes. Sponsored by the Sustainable Alberta Challenge, the Canadian Commuter Challenge aims to get motorists to find alternative means of getting around other than their personal vehicle.

Sitting in second with 2,091 votes is a project in southwestern Alberta designed to reduce conflicts between ranchers and carnivores in the wild.

The Long Point causeway project sits in third with 1,566 votes. Project sponsors hope to install ecopassages under the causeway so endangered turtles, snakes and other animals can move between Long Point Bay and the Big Creek Marsh without being crushed on the highway. Sponsors of the project also hope to improve the exchange of water between the marsh and the bay.

For more information on how to participate, check out www.shell.ca/fuellingchange.