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Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Friday that an investment of $8.2 million granted through various partners has made it possible to restore the habitat of the western chorus frog in various wetlands throughout the Montérégie and Outaouais regions.
The investments from the government’s Canada Nature Fund were granted to Nature-Action Québec and its partners Nature Conservancy of Canada (CNC) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) beginning in 2022. They were used to acquire and protect more than 13 hectares of natural spaces in Boucherville, La Prairie and Longueuil. Funding from the fund has made it possible to protect an additional 42 hectares in Outaouais and 39 hectares in Montérégie.
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The western chorus frog breeds in small, often temporary wetlands that are increasingly threatened by agriculture and urban sprawl.
Although the species is not at risk on a global scale, the population in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River region has been classified as threatened since 2010, and according to the latest estimates, up to 90 per cent of its habitat has been destroyed over the last few decades.
The western Chorus frog is seen as a sort of sentinel; when it disappears from a wetland, it is often a sign for biologists that the ecosystem is no longer healthy.
Despite its adult size of only about four centimetres, the amphibian plays an important role in the ecosystem because it is an indicator of the pressure that biodiversity is under. Since its needs are similar to many other species, the protection of the habitat of the western chorus frog will assure the protection of many other species.
In a press release on Friday, Guilbeault said “collaboration is at the heart of conservation and we must work together if we want to ensure the protection and recovery of species at risk like the chorus frog.” He noted that his government “is committed to stopping and reversing the loss of biodiversity by 2030, and to placing natural environments on the path to recovery by 2050.”
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