[All] FW: Dead Salamanders off Wideman Road

Tue Oct 6 19:54:49 EDT 2009

Great news!

This was just sent to me from the City of Waterloo. The MNR and GRCA are going to monitor the amphibians crossing along Wideman Road. Check it out. Very good stuff. I'm sending my thanks to the city for their response.

Louisette

--- On Tue, 10/6/09, Tim Anderson <Tim.Anderson at waterloo.ca> wrote:

From: Tim Anderson <Tim.Anderson at waterloo.ca>
Subject: FW: Dead Salamanders off Wideman Road
To: "Louisette Lanteigne" <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Cc: "COUNCIL" <COUNCIL at waterloo.ca>, "dschultz at grandriver.ca" <dschultz at grandriver.ca>, "Karen Moyer" <Karen.Moyer at waterloo.ca>
Received: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 4:51 PM

Hello Ms Lanteigne,
I am responding to your email on behalf of the City of Waterloo.  
First we would like to thank-you for bringing this information to our attention.   The amphibian migration unfortunately was not isolated to Wideman Road as it occurrs on various roads across the Region and throughout the Province as you have noted.  

Prompted by your inquiry we have been in consultation with the MNR and GRCA on this matter.  It is understood that the weather patterns this year played a role in the timing of the movement.  Most of August there was very little precipitation then starting on Sunday September 20 it started to really warm up then September 21-22st it was humid and warm, excellent conditions for amphibians to move.    In the fall, amphibians are generally moving to overwintering sites, and spring is when they move to breeding locations.   

Specifically as it relates to Wideman Road the City of Waterloo is going to continue to work with the GRCA and MNR to investigate migration zones along this road section.   Further research will indicate what steps should be taken to mitigate this occurance in future.  

Thanks
Tim Anderson, P.Eng.
General Manager of Public Works Services
265 Lexington Court
Waterloo, ON, N2J4A8
519-747-8627

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> 
To: dschultz at grandriver.ca <dschultz at grandriver.ca>; Jan dAilly; Diane Freeman; Brenda Halloran; Ian McLean; Karen Scian; Angela Vieth; Mark Whaley; Scott Witmer 
Sent: Wed Sep 23 16:52:48 2009
Subject: Dead Salamanders off Wideman Road 

Hello everyone

A large number of amphibians including frogs, salamanders, newts and turtles have been killed off Wideman Road in the last few days. I personally delivered a total of 13 dead salamanders taken from Wideman Road to Dr. Jim Bogart at the University of Guelph for positive identification.

To view the range of species currently crossing the roadway please visit the following web link. It shows the photos I took last night around midnight.

http://www.waterloomoraineact.com/widemanroad

CKCO release a report of how the City of Guelph closed Laird's road for amphibians and I highly recommend we shut down Wideman Road in the evenings until the migratory period has passed. To view the story regarding the issues of amphibian crossings in Guelph visit here:

http://www.southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=5785&PHPSESSID=2c1ebbbb927fb6f11834e342545c76a3

I have identified road kill hot spots. The PDF file attached shows the line of where all the dead salamanders were picked up and the circled area represents the location where 70% of them were found. 

If you would like more information, I have video, photos and Dr. Bogart will provide me with the results of the identification in the near future. At this point I can confirm the presence of redbacks and Red Spotted Newts based on the roadkill. I'll be sure to update you further as information comes in. 

If you can foward this information to relevant city and regional staff officials I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Louisette Lanteigne

700 Star Flower Ave.

Waterloo Ontario

N2V 2L2

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed,
and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law.
If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering
the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,distribution or copying of
this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify
The City of Waterloo immediately by email at Administrator at waterloo.ca Thank-you
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20091006/7ecea739/attachment.html>