The City of Longueuil is increasing operations to try to capture and “relocate” chorus frogs which would block the construction of a new street, but it does not yet have the necessary federal authorization to restart the road project, we learned. The duty. For its part, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment allows the City to capture as many endangered amphibians as it wishes, to send them to the Biodôme.
The duty obtained a copy of the permit granted by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment on March 18 to the City “for wildlife management purposes”. In this document, a regional director of the ministry specifies in Longueuil that the authorization is granted “in order to allow you to achieve your objectives”.
According to the terms set by the ministry responsible for wildlife protection in Quebec, the City can “capture amphibians with the aim of relocating them outside the work zone of Boulevard Béliveau”. The permit sets no “maximum quantity” of chorus frogs, specifying instead that “all” “individuals of both sexes and any size” may be removed from the area.
According to figures provided by the City, only six tree frogs have been captured so far, four of which were “handed over” to the Quebec Ministry of the Environment. These must be sent to the Montreal Biodôme to be integrated into the scientific breeding and reintroduction program run by the establishment for several years.
But “according to the scale of the songs, hundreds of individuals were on the site,” estimates the general director of the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec, Alain Branchaud.
In this context, if capture operations continue, “we could literally compromise the entire 2024 reproduction for this sector”, which would have negative consequences for the survival of this population in the years to come.
“No ban”
What’s more, the permit is valid from March 18, 2024 to November 20, 2024, i.e. for a period of more than eight months. However, it is during the spring period that chorus frogs are most active, due to the breeding season. It was during this period, and therefore currently, that they settled in ponds which formed along the route of the extension of Béliveau Boulevard.
Their presence prevents the City from restarting construction work on this new street, which cuts one of the last habitats of this endangered species in two. Work has been stopped since November 2021. The federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, then issued an emergency decree in order to stop the destruction of this natural environment, which had previously been authorized by the Legault government.
However, the Federal Ministry of the Environment has not intervened in the current tree frog capture operations. Under the emergency decree, “no ban directly targets individuals of the western chorus frog because provincial laws already protect them,” indicates the ministry, in a written response to the Duty.
No permit
Even if Longueuil “has visited the site six times” to carry out capture operations, the City has not yet obtained the necessary permit from the Canadian government to carry out the road work which will perpetuate the destruction of a tree frog habitat which has been the subject of a protection decree.
“No permit is currently issued allowing the completion of work on Boulevard Béliveau,” indicates the Federal Ministry of the Environment, in a written response.
According to a scientific opinion written by experts from the Quebec government in 2021, the new section of Béliveau Boulevard will destroy “a key crossing point” and “breeding habitats” of the species which are “particularly active”. The document specifies that the situation of this threatened species “represents an indicator of the loss of ecological goods and services provided by temporary wetlands and natural environments in urban and peri-urban areas”.
The chorus frog has already lost more than 90% of its habitat in Quebec, mainly due to urban sprawl. According to a report on “threats” dated March 2021 and written by provincial government experts, less than 25% of the populations present in Quebec will be able to survive, unless the growing threats are curbed.