WPC Project

Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery

Location: Ontario

Species

The Ojibway Prairie Complex and Greater Park Ecosystem (OPCGPE) in Ontario’s Windsor-LaSalle region is home to several reptile species threatened by urban development, habitat fragmentation and road mortality, including eastern foxsnakes, Butler’s gartersnakes, and a critically endangered population of massasauga rattlesnakes. This  24² km area was designated in 2016 as an “Important Amphibian and Reptile Area’” by the Canadian Herpetological Society (see Resources). The Massasauga rattlesnakes found here are isolated from other Canadian populations by over 300 km. As the only population in Canada to live in tallgrass prairie habitat, they represent an ecologically and genetically unique entity. Unfortunately, their range has plummeted 95% from 1975 to 2015, due to a history of habitat destruction, road mortality, intentional killing and illegal collection for the pet trade. Because so few individuals remain, the population is now on the brink of local extinction.

What is the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Program?

In Canada, massasauga rattlesnakes are limited to the Georgian Bay shoreline and only two isolated habitats in Ontario’s Carolinian Zone: the Ojibway Prairie Complex near Windsor and the Wainfleet Bog near Welland. However, there have been no sightings at Ojibway Prairie since 2019. We’re working to reverse that.

In 2021, WPC was asked to lead the creation of a provincial recovery implementation team for the massasauga. The techniques we’ve been developing for massasauga rattlesnakes are also helping another endangered species on the Ojibway Prairie: Butler’s gartersnake. These reptiles face many threats in their small Ontario range such as urbanization resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation, roads separate populations from one another and increase the risk of vehicle strikes and people kill them or illegally collect them as pets.

Massasauga Rattlesnake

Purpose

We work to protect the massasauga rattlesnake from further impact by taking conservation actions that focus on monitoring, assessing and analyzing population recovery, as well as supporting our partners recovery efforts.

GOALS

In 2023 we plan to have:

  • 24 massasaugas overwintered successfully in artificial hibernacula at Ojibway Prairie

Butler’s Gartersnake

Purpose

We work to protect the Butler’s gartersnake from threat by supplementing wild populations and perfecting conservation techniques.

GOALS

In 2023 we plan to have:

  • 30 Butler’s gartersnakes overwintered successfully in artificial hibernacula at Ojibway prairie

WHAT’S INVOLVED

In 2013 we began implementing conservation actions recommended in the Recovery Strategy for the Massasauga in Canada (see Resources). Our focus was on population monitoring, threat assessment, and an analysis of the feasibility of population recovery. In 2015 we launched the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery program (OPRREC), in order to greatly expand our previous work, establish a reptile recovery working group (see Program Partners), and begin addressing important challenges identified in the feasibility study (see Resources). Since that time, we have been busy working with our partners to enhance critical habitat, mitigate threats, conduct public outreach, protect and connect habitat, and prepare  for long-term population augmentation using techniques such as conservation breeding and translocation. A robust monitoring regime allows us to evaluate the success of our various recovery projects and to adapt techniques as required.

Some of the highlights of the OPRREC program during the 2015-2019 period include:

  • Invested an average of 1,130 person-hours annually conducting surveys and inventories in the field for the purpose of population monitoring, threat identification, and effectiveness monitoring.
  • Submitted of over 1,820 SAR observations to provincial databases – an average of 364 records per year – to aid in the identification and protection of SAR and SAR habitat.
  • Collected data on over 5,515 road killed vertebrates – an average of 1,104 records per year – to guide installation of temporary and permanent reptile barrier fencing.
  • Installed an average of 287 m of temporary or permanent fencing annually to prevent road mortality or human-snake conflict.
  • Conducted habitat enhancement activities within an average of 5.8 ha of Massasauga habitat annually, including control of invasive Phragmites, creation of over 155 woody debris features, and removal of over 775 kg of invasive herbaceous plants. We confirmed that SAR snakes used our woody debris features an average of 11 times per year.
  • Delivered over 2235 Massasauga stewardship outreach packages/pamphlets/door hangers to households, businesses, and public facilities adjacent to Massasauga habitat – an average of 448 materials distributed annually. Partnered with City of Windsor and Town of LaSalle to install 6 Massasauga habitat signs and 1 interpretive panel at a local park, and 8 wildlife crossing signs on local roads at roadkill hotspots.
  • OPRREC staff or projects were featured in 60 media stories and 70 online blogs and social media posts. We performed 19 presentations related to Massasauga or SAR recovery at Ojibway Prairie aimed at audiences ranging from local to international.
  • Conducted over 515 face-to-face or telephone questionnaires with local residents, park users and medical professionals – an average of 103 questionnaires per year – to gauge support for Massasauga recovery and approaches to mitigate human-snake conflict, and to evaluate effectiveness of our public outreach.
  • Responded to or reported 15 incidents of SAR snake habitat disturbance or destruction, and provided formal comments on 13 local or regional plans/documents/guidelines potentially impacting Massasauga Critical Habitat.
  • Spearheaded the development of the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Working Group, and coordinated and facilitated an average of 4 meetings per year.
  • Secured over 1675 volunteer hours and over $1,000,000 in cash and in-kind contributions toward Massasauga and SAR recovery at Ojibway Prairie.
  • Secured a ‘Notice of Entry’ with Infrastructure Ontario annually beginning in 2017 to permit management activities along of a 5km long, 43 ha utility right-of-way to increase its function as a wildlife corridor linking Massasauga habitat.
  • Partnered with Lakehead University to nominate the 24 km2 Ojibway Prairie Complex and Greater Park Ecosystem (OPCGPE) as an ‘Important Amphibian and Reptile Area’. The OPCGPE was officially designated by the Canadian Herpetological Society as an IMPARA in 2016.
  • Identified 4 potential Massasauga release sites at Ojibway Prairie and installed 10 artificial hibernacula across these sites. Evaluation of their potential use for translocations began in 2018 using humidity gauges, frost tubes, groundwater wells, and intentional hibernation with live Eastern Gartersnakes.
  • Initiated the permitting process at the local, provincial and federal levels to begin long-term population augmentation of Massasaugas using captive-bred snakes.

Our major goal is to prevent the disappearance of the Ojibway population of Massasauga rattlesnakes, in order to maintain the geographic distribution, genetic diversity and ecological variation of this species in Canada. Our work is also designed to benefit several other species at risk, including the Butler’s gartersnake, eastern foxsnake and many species of plants unique to Ontario’s tallgrass prairies. If we are successful we will have stemmed the tide of extinction from one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada.

Choquette, J.D., Savi, L.M., and C. Fournier. 2024. An inexpensive artificial snake hibernaculum built using readily available plumbing supplies. MethodsX 12, 102641. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2024.102641)

Choquette, J.; A.I. Mokdad, T. Pitcher, and J.D. Litzgus. 2023. Selection and validation of release sites for conservation translocations of temperate-zone snakes. Global Ecology and Conservation (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02765).

Choquette, J. D., Litzgus, J. D., Gui, J. X. Y., & Pitcher, T. E. (2022). A systematic review of snake translocations to identify potential tactics for reducing postrelease effects. Conservation Biology, 00, e14016. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14016

Choquette, Jonathan D. and Hand, Alexis V. (2021) “Informational Signage Increases Awareness of a Rattlesnake in a Canadian Urban Park System,” Human–Wildlife Interactions 15:1 https://doi.org/10.26077/9e24-0dc5

Choquette, J., M. Macpherson, and R. Corry. 2020. Identifying Potential Connectivity for an Urban Population of Rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus) in a Canadian Park System. Land 9(9):313.
https://doi.org/10.3390/land9090313

Choquette, J., and E. Jolin. 2018. Checklist and status of the amphibians and reptiles of Essex County, Ontario: a 35 year update. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 132 (2): 176-190.

Choquette, J., and L. Valliant. 2016. Road mortality of reptiles and other wildlife at the Ojibway Prairie Complex and Greater Park Ecosystem in southern OntarioThe Canadian Field-Naturalist 130 (1): 64-75.

Project Staff

Dr. Jonathan Choquette

Jonathan is based in Windsor, Ontario and manages the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Program, with the overall goal of recovering the Ojibway Prairie population of the Eastern Massasauga, while providing conservation benefits to other at-risk reptiles. Jonathan’s research interests include urban herpetology, human-snake conflict management, and conservation biology, having studied biology (BSc) and landscape architecture (MLA) at the University of Guelph, and conservation and restorative ecology (PhD) at Laurentian University. Jonathan has authored or co-authored numerous technical reports and peer-reviewed publications on the conservation of Canadian reptiles and amphibians. A list of his publications can be found here

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