They’ve been called the amphibian version of canaries in a coal mine.
Frogs have been disappearing from wetlands in Canada and around the world at an alarming rate and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee wants to make their concerns clear when they host their fourth annual International Save the Frogs Frog Day event in Oceanside this Saturday, April 28.
Nearly one-third of the world’s 6,490 amphibian species are threatened with extinction and have been facing an onslaught of environmental problems, including pollution, infectious diseases, habitat loss, invasive species, climate change and over-harvesting for the pet and food trades.
Saturday’s event, said organizer Annette Tanner, will involve a tour of the wetlands in District Lot 33 in Nanoose Bay, starting at 1 p.m.
“Only 110 hectares of old growth Coastal Douglas-fir forest have been protected in all of Canada. Scientists and government agree that the entire Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem on East Vancouver is on the brink of extinction because so little of it has been protected.”
Tanner added the DL 33 forest ecosystem was known for some of the most biologically diverse and most threatened plant communities and wildlife species in British Columbia and the world.
Participants in the tour will meet at the Petrocan station on the corner of the Island Highway and Northwest Bay Road.
For more information call 250-752-6585.