Endangered salamanders threatened by sprawling suburbs will get car-free access to small stretches of the Greater Toronto Area this month as they emerge from their subterranean winter shelters and journey under the cover of night to their spring breeding ponds.
Burlington, Ont., has closed a section of King Road every spring since 2012 to help Jefferson salamander who live along the Niagara Escarpment make the nocturnal trip to their vernal pools.
King Road is closed from North Service Road to Mountain Brow Road starting Wednesday, until April 9.
Meanwhile, York Region says from March 24 to May 2 drivers can expect intermittent overnight closures of Stouffville Road, between Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street, which runs through the Oak Ridges Moraine to help the migrating salamander.
The greyish, blue-speckled amphibian spends winter in abandoned rodent burrows, rock crevices or other moist pockets below the frost line until their spring emergence.
The salamanders, who live for up to 30 years, tend to capitalize on a warm rainy March or April night to make the journey to their breeding ponds, often the same one where they were born.
Environmentalists opposed to opening up protected Greenbelt lands for development have often cited the endangered salamander as one of the species most threatened by southern Ontario’s urbanization.
Climate change is also expected to pose an increasing threat to the species as warmer temperatures dry up those spring pools faster than before.