Western Toad Monitoring

The monitoring program was launched in response to concerns about impacts on Western Toads during breeding and dispersal at two local sites. We launched field-based surveys at Alice Lake Provincial Park in 2019 and at Garibaldi Springs in 2020. The program aims to:

1. Track breeding population trends,
2. Identify threats across life stages and implement mitigation where possible,
3. Strengthen stewardship and community engagement in western toad conservation.

Volunteers conduct surveys on foot and by kayak from mid-March through August, recording Western Toad breeding numbers, ‘hotspots’ and timing, egg mass locations, and migration routes and timing. Incidental toad sightings from hikers are encouraged, contributing information about western toad upland habitat use. The program is modeled on other successful, collaborative projects, such as Kentucky-Alleyne, Ryder Lake, and Lost Lake Whistler. 

Western Toads face potential threats both inside and outside park boundaries throughout all life stages. Breeding adults and tadpoles congregate around shorelines where they may be impacted by fishers, hikers, swimmers and dogs. As the toadlets (young of the year) emerge from the lakes, they must cross trails that are busy with bikes and hikers. We hope that by better understanding how, where and when the breeding cycle occurs, that human impacts can be mitigated.

More About Western Toads

The Western Toad is a federally listed Schedule 1 species under the Species at Risk Act. Primary threats to the species include habitat loss and degradation, including urban development and roads. Although the Western Toads at Alice Lake and Garibaldi Springs Parks breed within protected areas, the parks themselves are not that large and the toads cover large areas in their annual migrations (i.e., kilometers). 

Western Toads use several different types of habitat during their annual life-cycle: wetland breeding habitat, terrestrial summer range, and winter hibernation sites. In spring, adult toads migrate from terrestrial areas to communal breeding sites in wetlands, ponds and lakes. Breeding is temperature-dependent, so the timing and length of the breeding season varies from year to year. Breeding often takes place over a period of less than two weeks. Each female lays more than 10,000 eggs in two long strings. The smaller male clasps the female from behind and fertilizes the eggs as they are deposited. Male toads produce a quiet, twittering ‘release call’ if they are accidentally grasped by another male.

Once laid, the eggs quickly develop into tadpoles that hatch and swarm in groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals through the warmest, shallowest water available. By mid to late summer, the tadpoles transform into toadlets and leave the water. Dense aggregations of toadlets are often found hidden along the shore of breeding sites, and clustered in piles when the weather turns cool. The toadlets migrate into upland areas en masse. At Alice Lake they can sometimes be seen crossing the trails near Fawn Lake. At Garibaldi Springs, they typically move eastward through Coho Park, following creeks as they make their way into Garibaldi Highlands. Male toadlets reach sexual maturity in 3-4 years, females in 4-6 years. Individuals may live for 10 years or more.

After breeding, adult Western Toads disperse into terrestrial habitats such as forests and grasslands and spend the summer and fall foraging in warm, low lying areas. Over the winter they hibernate in burrows below the frostline, up to 1.3 metres underground.