Digital
Journal, Ontario12/6/12 Hochfest for reptile and amphibian enthusiasts at
Toronto Zoo (Bart B. Van Bockstaele)
Toronto
Zoo is the central hub for nature conservancy in Ontario. On Saturday, 3
November, the Zoo invited people who are active in its Turtle Tally and
FrogWatch programmes for a day of fellowship and information.
Toronto
Zoo is not just a minor two-hour Sunday afternoon attraction for people with
young children, far from it. Toronto Zoo is a centre of practical biological
knowledge and science, and the central hub for nature education and conservancy
in Ontario. Its people are very active in the field, both as a part of their
jobs and as volunteers.
Adopt-A-Pond
is one of the many programmes run by Toronto Zoo. It consists of several
different parts, two of which are FrogWatch Ontario and Ontario Turtle
Tally.
These
are essentially scientific crowdsourcing programmes designed to help with
collecting data paid scientists and employees can't collect because the
contents of the public purse are too small to hire more, and because one person
can only do so much.
Once
a year, Toronto Zoo organises a FrogWatch and Turtle Tally Participant
Appreciation Day as a thank you to the people who volunteer their time for the
programmes. It is a great occasion for people who share the same interest to
meet and talk about their own experiences and to share ideas.
This
year took on a more-than-usual significance for me because Julia Phillips,
Adopt-A-Pond co-ordinator and organiser of the event, had asked me to give a
talk as well.
Bob
Johnson, the Toronto Zoo's curator for reptiles and amphibians and very active
in conservation of reptiles and amphibians, started the event and introduced
Julia Philips.
Julia
Phillips presented a summary of the observations of turtles, frogs and toads
that had been sent in this year. This was an unusual year for Frogwatch,
because the frogs became active a lot earlier than usual, the spring peepers
even as early as the first week of February.
Crystal
Robertson, Adopt-A-Pond's Stewardship and Social Marketing Coordinator, talked
about what Adopt-A-Pond is doing in Ontario's lake communities, such as helping
people understand why every single turtle is important and why the death of
even a single turtle can deliver a significant blow to a population, the
installation of nesting beaches, distributing information and more.
Jeff
Howard, an avid environmentalist and community volunteer, talked about his
passion for all living things, in particular about how he worked with a local
developer who was about to fill-in a wetland, in order to save as many
Blanding's turtles he could.
After
this came Lyn Garrah, M.E.S. Graduate, Queen's University. She talked about the
work she did for her university thesis, studying amphibian and reptile road
mortality on the 1000 Islands Parkway, the goal being to gather data and
possibly finding way to reduce it.
Lyn's
talk was of particular significance for me, since I also study amphibian and
reptile road mortality, but in Toronto. What surprised me however, is that some
of what we do is not just similar, but even identical. We both use a bicycle to
do our work, for some of the same reasons (snakes can be easily missed when
using a car), and even the distance we bike is almost the same: between 34 and
38 km. Her conclusions are also similar, namely that predicting and protecting
amphibians and snakes is a far more complicated matter than is often assumed.
Paul
Prior, a fauna biologist with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority,
gave a talk titled "No Frog (or Toad) Left Behind – Pre-empting
Rarity". His view on things is that conservation tends to jump in when it
is already (almost) too late. He pleads for pre-emptive conservation, i.e.
starting to take care of things before an animal - or a plant for that matter -
has become almost extinct.
In
order to make this possible, he proposes a system in which levels of rarity are
assigned to each organism. This system relies a lot on trends over relatively
long periods of time, 10 to 20 years or so, and it requires careful collection
of data in a grid that covers the entire region. The advantage of such a system
is that it makes it possible to be proactive and act before the situation
becomes desperate.
After
a 30 minute break, it was Massimo Giammarco's turn. Although this pint-sized
conservationist is only 8 years old, he is the driving force behind turtle
conservation efforts in his community, as he showed with his talk "Helping
Students to Help Turtles". While children are often seen as unimportant
and merely "endearing" or "cute", they can indeed be quite
important. I witnessed that myself only a few weeks ago, when a girl managed to
convince her parents to put their dog back on the leash in order to protect a
snapping turtle. I had been unable to convince her parents, but she was, and
she may well have saved the life of that turtle in the process.
"Completing
the Hatch: A Fighting Chance for Ontario's Turtles" was a talk by Matt
Thomson who devised a simple cage-type protection to prevent predators from
raiding turtle nests. It can be hard to measure the effectiveness of such a
system, but he is working on it, and the design certainly looks promising.
Bob
Johnson, curator of the Toronto Zoo herptile collection, promised him some
help. Bob does not waste words. Last year, I had a conversation with him that
lasted mere seconds, but in that time he predicted the results of my research
and he was spot on.
With
"Amphibians and Reptiles in the Urban Wilderness" came my attempt at
informing and entertaining my fellow reptile and amphibian conservationists. I
had made a selection among the tens of thousands of pictures I have taken over
the years.
My take
on photography is somewhat different than that of many nature photographers. It
is not my goal to make "beautiful" pictures. It is my goal to make
pictures that document what is really there. As such, I do not carry a lot of
"gear", nor do I use any tricks to attract wildlife or to make superb
pictures. I take pictures of what is there when it is there. They are a record
of what is true, rather than of what I would like to be true. I hoped - and
hope - that people seeing these pictures will realise that Toronto is a unique
city with a unique natural heritage.
I
must admit to having been a bit naughty, since I did overstep my allotted time
quite a bit as I was showing the pictures I had selected. Fortunately for me,
no one pulled a gun or a knife to silence me. I am very grateful for that much
unexpected courtesy.
Karine
Bériault was the last speaker of the day. She is a Species at Risk Biologist
with the Ministry of Natural Resources. One of her activities is trying to help
the threatened wood turtle population back to healthy levels. I hope her
initiatives work out, for I have never seen a wood turtle before.
After
the presentations, we were treated to a mountain of pizza, an excellent
opportunity for me to fight weight loss, as well as a wonderful occasion to
intermingle.
Julia
Phillips also treated the speakers to a copy of Brennan Caverhill's Blanding's
turtle plastron poster and a properly camouflaged metal drinking bottle,
Toronto Zoo edition. My poster is destined to replace a satellite picture of
Toronto, and the bottle is ready to be used on my regular expeditions in the
parks of Toronto.
When
the programme was finished, we were "released" into the zoo for an
enjoyable walk in this unique collection of animals and plants implanted in
what is poised to become Canada's first urban national park: the uniquely
beautiful Rouge Valley, a great end to a wonderful day.
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