Outaouais environmentalists eye federal protection for threatened frog

Outaouais residents concerned about losing the habitat of a threatened frog are happy to know the federal government has forced a Montreal developer to change a housing project in order to protect it.

The Western Chorus Frog's habitat is scattered across southwestern Quebec and southern Ontario and is often threatened by development, according to the federal government's Species at Risk registry.

This week, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change forced changes to a residential development in Montreal's South Shore to "assure the immediate protection of the species" by issuing an emergency protection order, only the second time that's happened since 2002.

• Ottawa issues emergency protection order for rare Quebec frog
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For Stefan Haag, the order offers one more option for ensuring a planned 30-home development behind his home in west Gatineau doesn't wipe out more of the frog's habitat.

"This frog has to be protected because the population is going down," he said Saturday.

"Usually with one species goes others. so we have to be very careful how we do developments like this one."

Benoit Delage, executive director of sustainable development group Conseil régional de l'environnement et du développement durable de l'Outaouais, told Radio-Canada that his and other environmental groups are happy to know they apparently have this option, which was denied twice for the Montreal development by the former Conservative government.

That project had been on hold under an order from the province.

Minister: try other options first

Haag said he wants the project behind his Aylmer home to be paused to make sure nature is preserved, adding that he'd consider asking for an emergency protection order if the city and province do nothing.

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna said Saturday she wants people with concerns about at-risk species to work with their municipalities and provinces first, calling the Montreal example an "extreme case" where 90 per cent of the frog's habitat there would have been impacted.

"I think going forward the idea is we work very closely with the municipalities and with the Quebec government ... so I'm not in the position where, to do my job, I have to make an order," she said.

"I think the best thing we can do is work to protect the habitat ahead of time so that we don't run into a situation where this species is in real peril."

The Species at Risk registry says the Western Chorus Frog's exact population isn't known, but it dropped by 30 per cent in Ontario between 1995 and 2006.

It cautions the frog's habitat in suburban Quebec may be wiped out by development by 2030 if nothing is done.