It's been over two years ago since the protected frog pond at Decew Rd. and Richmond St. was bulldozed.
To remedy the situation, the city started a lengthy restoration process, which is now complete with the installation of an eco-passage under Decew Rd.
“The eco-passage itself is a tunnel underground,” says Anne Yagi, who is the restorative ecologist overseeing the project. “Because it’s targeting reptiles and amphibians to be able to move through, it’s got openings at the top to let light in so it won’t be a predator trap for them with raccoons sitting in there.”
The passage will allow chorus frogs to move between the pond and the terrestrial environment along the shore of Lake Gibson.
“This pond is a vernal pool community,” Yagi explains. “It is a type of frog that changes into adults from tadpoles within the same year. Their ponds usually dry down quite a bit in the summer to the point where tadpoles can’t survive so that's why it’s vernal. It means seasonal.”
Other species, such as the green frog and the bullfrog, are permanently aquatic, so the design of the passage will keep them out of the pond.
“It’s designed to be precipitation driven,” says Yagi. “When there’s no precipitation, after a while it should dry out in the summer.”
While garter snakes and herons will be able to get into pond, Yagi says that they're important to establish an ecosystem.
“There's a lot of cover in there to keep the animals from not getting overeaten,” she says. “So they should do what they normally do. What we’re doing now is trying to make sure that the vernal pool community is okay.”
The eco-passage is the first of its kind in Niagara, and it's an important step in re-establishing the eco system that was wiped out when the protected frog pond was bulldozed.
“It'll help to restore connections,” Yagi says. “That’s the whole point, to have these animal connections that are a little safer than crossing the road. It's more sustainable in the long run if they can move between sites.”
Yagi is actively monitoring the situation to make sure all is going well.
“There’s already a lot of good things happening,” she says. “We see a lot of holes and things being dug in the areas that we created alongside for hibernation habitats. That means that small mammals are in there. We didn't lose everything because we got in there in time.”
Now that the eco-passage is open, it is up to the frogs to figure out that they can safely cross the road.
“We’re going to put a crossing guard up,” Yagi laughs. “No, what we still have to do is put in some guiding senses. We don’t have it on the Lake Gibson end. There’s still some work that needs to be done, some tweaking here and there but it’s a good step.”
