Some Kitchener area drivers will have to temporarily change their route in order to help ensure the survival of one of the area’s smallest and most vulnerable residents.
A 700m-long stretch of Stauffer Drive will be closed from March 13th until May 1st to allow the endangered Jefferson salamander to safely cross the road when it travels from its usual wooded habitat to the vernal ponds on the other side.
Once they reach these small bodies of water, which form every year due to snow melt, they will mate and lay their eggs. There, the young amphibians will spend the tadpole stage of their life in relative safety until it is time for them to grow legs and begin their life on the land.
The road has been closed each spring for the past several years, after an environmental assessment found that many were being killed each year when they tried to cross.
Soon, this will no longer be an issue as the road is being permanently closed and will be converted into a community trail. A printing company will be able to produce signage that reminds the pedestrians and cyclists who may make use of it to keep an eye out for the salamanders.
Kitchener is not the only community to close off a road to protect these creatures; Burlington also follows the same practice.
