Amphibians at Shane Lake will soon wiggle out of the spring melt, and Ashley Sutherland of the Aleeza Lake Research Forest is prepared to advocate for them under the SLAM project. A program attempting to prevent young amphibians from being crushed or otherwise impacted along Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh’s popular Shane Lake trail system, within UNBC’s Land Trust. She’s recently begun an ambitious fundraising project to build boardwalks along parts of the trail system which could cost close to half a million dollars.
Information collected by surveyors, and community members collectively contributing to the project’s dataset, have identified busy amphibian zones on the lake’s trail system. Underway is phase 2 of the project, which confirms these locations. Phase 3 of the project involves fundraising for a wide sturdy boardwalk which both supports motorized maintenance equipment, and allows toadlets to pass safely underneath. Sutherland has simultaneously begun fundraising and raising awareness by selling SLAM stickers in various Prince George locations.
