Quebec races to save western chorus frog as city builds road through wetland

In the coming months, a city on Montreal's South Shore aims to finish building a boulevard that cuts through a thriving wetland so motorists can shave some time off their commute.

But before the black top is spread, employees of Quebec's Ministry of Wildlife have been wading through the water-saturated forest, collecting a tiny frog and its eggs with hopes of boosting the species' population through a reproduction program hosted by the Biodome.

However, conservationists like Tommy Montpetit say that's not enough to protect the western chorus frog.     "What they're doing, basically, is annihilating the population that exists there," he said.

The western chorus frog lives for about a year, and he said removing eggs and frogs during the crucial breeding season may not succeed.

"We don't know what's going to happen," he said, but what's clear is the frogs will be returned to a habitat that is further destroyed by a roadway. 

He wants, at the very least, for the road to be built above the wetland so the frogs can continue to move freely below.

The 300-metre stretch of road in Longueuil, Que., was nearly completed in 2021. The forest was clearcut. The boulevard's foundation was laid, street lights installed and manholes dug.

The city even spent about $1 million to build a wildlife corridor under Béliveau Boulevard. But that will likely cause more harm than good, Montpetit said, because predators will learn to wait by exit points to catch frogs filing through.

The road was near completion when first a Superior Court order and then a federal decree halted its construction to protect the western chorus frog, a threatened species under the Species at Risk Act.

While that was going on, a municipal election was held and newly elected Mayor Catherine Fournier inherited the unfinished road. She reassessed the project and found the damage can't be undone.

"The environment cannot be fully restored," her office said in a statement, so the goal is to complete the road this summer with some improvements. 

After an assessment by the province's Ministry of Wildlife, the under-the-road crossing for large fauna will be enhanced and there will be three specific crossings added for the frog, the statement says.

The road cuts through a wetland that is directly adjacent to a 260-hectare nature preserve known as the Boisé du Tremblay. Fournier's office says the city will continue to protect the Tremblay, Roberval and Fonrouge forests, which are home to the largest population of western chorus frogs in Canada. 

But work on the road will continue, connecting R-100 Street to Béliveau Boulevard, creating a straight shot between de la Savane Road, where the Saint-Hubert Airport is found, and Jacques-Cartier Boulevard East, at the Pierre Boucher Hospital.