This text is taken from the “Courrier de la planete” of May 17, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
A project to widen a section of road in La Prairie risks encroaching on chorus frog habitat protected by the Species at Risk Act, found The duty. The Ministry of Transport, which is piloting the project, has itself collected data on the presence of this endangered species and is promising measures to “restrict” its impacts.
This new road project plans to increase Route 104 from two to four lanes over a distance of six kilometers between Highway 30 and the limit of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. According to what the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) specifies, this section of road “generates problems of safety and traffic congestion”, hence the need to redevelop it. It also plans to “evaluate the relevance of facilities allowing the development of public and active transportation”.
In “notices” recently published in the Registry of Environmental Assessments, two departments point out, however, that the MTQ project risks amplifying the already very significant destruction of the critical habitat of the chorus frog in Quebec.
“The induced changes identified by the initiator of the project refer to temporary and permanent encroachments in the habitats of the western chorus frog”, writes the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change. (MELCC). The document therefore asks the MTQ to take this into account in its “impact study”, but also to “justify the planned activities in connection with the issue of preserving the wetlands and water bodies” necessary for the small amphibian.
The MELCC recalls at the same time that the widening of the road and the other elements of the project are located “within the limits of the critical habitat of the western chorus frog designated under the Species Act in peril “.
“Connectivity”
In its “opinion” produced as part of the environmental assessment of the project, the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) stresses for its part that two significant populations of tree frogs “are present near the project”, while “the area covered by the expansion project contains smaller populations that are difficult to detect”.
The MFFP specifies that the habitat which is likely to be affected by the road project “plays an important role of connectivity” between the largest populations. “This connectivity is identified as an essential factor in the conservation and recovery of the species,” add wildlife sector experts.
This observation by the Department is all the more significant in a context where more than 90% of the habitat of the tree frog in Quebec has already been destroyed in recent decades, mainly due to urban sprawl.
In 2016, the federal government had also adopted an emergency decree to stop a real estate project in La Prairie that encroached on a habitat of this species in decline. In the fall of 2021, Ottawa once again decided to intervene, in order to stop a road project that has largely destroyed one of the last habitats of the tree frog in Longueuil. This project had been approved by the MELCC, despite a scientific opinion from the MFFP highlighting the risks for the species.
” Reduction measures “
In an email in response to questions from To have tothe Ministère des Transports du Québec is aware of the presence of chorus frog habitats in the area of the Route 104 widening project in La Prairie.
“The MTQ recently began hydrological, topographical, floristic and faunal surveys along Route 104 in La Prairie. These field surveys will make it possible to identify with precision the places particularly favorable to the habitat of the western chorus frog (ex. identify the number of pockets of water where the frog could live)”, argues the service. communications.
“Once the ministry has collected this data, mitigation measures will be developed in partnership with the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks to limit the impact of the project on the critical habitats of the chorus frog. of the West,” the written response adds.