Construction of a Snake Den
The Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT) had an opportunity to construct an artificial snake den recently while disposing of some broken concrete and pipe debris on the R.E.Taylor Conservation Property.
To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to construct an artificial snake den in the southern interior of BC, for no other reason than to potentially enhance den and security habitat for snakes and other reptiles.
The site is just outside a natural stream floodplain; we are targeting rubber boa and gartersnake though other species may use the den. It was a ‘use the materials that are on hand’ and ‘use them close to where they occur’ exercise.
We researched this installation based on similar successful artificial dens constructed in Ontario and New Jersey.
The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation helped fund SILT to clean up the debris. We thought this would be an interesting (and under budget) way of adding potential habitat value to what otherwise would essentially have been a dump run.
The Home Depot in Westbank (West Kelowna) generously donated materials to the project.
Biologist & Field Assistant, Lindsay Lalach, has created an eBird Hotspot as well as an iNaturalist Project for the R.E. Taylor property with funding provided through a grant from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.
The goal of these virtual projects is to provide an opportunity for the public to continue to share any data they may collect while visiting the property in the future. This will provide useful insight to SILT on what species are present at the property at different times of year and may lead to new knowledge of species-at-risk that may be present. Click on the above links to either contribute or learn more about the wildlife species observed on this unique conservation property.
Visit the R.E.Taylor Conservation Property page to learn more about this wonderful conservation property.
