Volunteers hop to rescue migrating toads in Chilliwack Western toads helped across road to avoid squishy death By Glenda Luymes, The Province Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Thousands of tiny toads are being transported out of trouble in Chilliwack. B.C.'s western toads have begun their summer migration from the wetlands where they were born to the forested uplands where they spend much of their lives. But while the annual migration is a natural process, it usually means thousands of juvenile amphibians are killed as they try to cross a road that runs between the two habitats, biologist Zoey Slater said Tuesday. "Residents told us that in the past, the road would be covered with squished toads - like a huge oil slick. The toads are so small, drivers think they're pebbles," she said. To save the federally listed "species of special concern," Slater and a crew of volunteers organized by the South Coast Conservation Program were providing a mini-carpool service for toads Tuesday, transporting them across Ryder Lake Road in buckets and boxes. The volunteers will be out again Wednesday as the last of the toads are expected to make their journey. Slater said the amphibians are slowly disappearing from the Fraser Valley lowlands as the region becomes more developed. Female western toads only reproduce twice in their lifetime, laying up to 20,000 eggs, so the death of one dime-sized toad can have a large impact. Slater would like to see the City of Chilliwack close the road or install travel tunnels beneath it. South Coast had about 200 volunteers scheduled to help out on the weekend, but the migration was delayed, likely due to the wet spring. When the toads began crossing late Monday, only 30 volunteers were still able to come out. Wearing blue gloves and carrying buckets, Jean Kempers and her daughter Lauren educated drivers as they transported toads from one side of the road to the other. "They need help, and we had a spare afternoon," said Jean. The mother-daughter team estimated they collected about 1,000 toads in two hours.