Reptile Xing ahead: Vermont town gets $150,000 grant to create salamander road crossing
By APFriday, April 2, 2010
Vt. town gets $150K grant for salamander crossing
MONKTON, Vt. — Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.
The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one or two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.
The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.
Reptile expert Jim Andrews says the crossing is “one of the most important of the known amphibian crossings in the state.”
For the last nine years a group of Monkton residents has monitored the swamp-side road crossing, in some cases helping the creatures cross the road.
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, www.burlingtonfreepress.com
