Here is an urgent update. We need your help, your voice on this, right away.

The proposal I put forward last November was for the installation of vertical wooden posts close enough together to prevent vehicle traffic but far enough apart to allow all wildlife to pass through, with no mesh or wires to entangle animals. Another option just recently suggested was to plant trees and shrubs along the access trails to obscure them. These are both low impact solutions that would have limited or no negative environmental impacts.

However, Gimli’s operations department has come up their own plan to protect the snake den from ORV traffic. I have very serious concerns about this plan which will be presented to the mayor and council for their consideration/decision on May 13.

The operations department plan involves building tall berms using gravel and other material near the den site, piled up presumably with heavy machinery. So far I have not received any response to my request for further details as to exact location of these berms, whether Gimli will consult with and seek approval of Manitoba Conservation before proceeding and whether construction, if approved by council, would at least wait until all snakes have left the den site for the summer. MB Conservation supported by vertical post plan provided no work was done while the snakes were present at the den. The disturbance of heavy machinery for berm construction while snakes are present would be terrible; snakes are very sensitive to vibration.

Among the many other concerns/questions about this berm plan that I have communicated to Mayor and Council and other on town staff are these:

1. Where exactly will these berms be located and how high will they be? If these structures are too close to the den, they might impact or alter water drainage, sunlight/shadow, and other factors at the den. The snakes are successful at that den because the conditions there are favourable for them. Any changes, even subtle ones, to the den's water table, solar radiation and temperature etc. may render the site less favourable because reptiles like snakes require very specific microclimate conditions.

2. Would construction and the heavy machinery needed to make these berms vibrate and shake the den site itself, thus destabilizing it? Anything that collapses the spaces where the snakes overwinter beneath the slope's surface would significantly impact this site negatively.

3. The den site appears to me to perhaps be manmade, created by piling material up to form the slope where the snakes overwinter. Snakes hibernate underground above the water table but below the frost line. A tall berm made of local materials where snakes can dig and tunnel down into that sweet spot might effectively create a new denning site that itself would need to be barricaded against human intrusion. 

4. What impact would these berms have on the snakes' ability to access or leave the den site? How much energy would it take them to climb these berms and would they be more visible and thus vulnerable to predators (and people) while climbing? What impact would it have on the movement of other wildlife?

5. Can you please provide more details/map/drawings on the location, design and specifications of these berms? What would prevent anyone from just driving or walking around them? Or over them? (I have seen dirt bikes driving up very steep sandy slopes 20-30 feet high.)

6. If, as you claim, the berm would stop anyone from walking into the den site, what about the local people who have long gone in there to respectfully view the snakes every year?

I requested permission to speak at the May 13 council meeting where this matter will be discussed but was denied because apparently Gimli is dealing with a cyber attack issue that prevents me from attending remotely. I live four provinces away so won’t be able to attend in person. But if you live nearby, you can attend and show support for the snakes.

And please please please email mayor and council about this ASAP. Say you have concerns that the proposal for construction of berms near the Gimli snake den may have significant negative impacts on the snakes and on the den itself; that MB Conservation must be consulted before any construction begins; and that you support far less intrusive (and most likely more effective) plans to protect the den such as vertical post barricades and/or planting trees and shrubs to obscure the trails that access the den.

Their contact info here: https://www.gimli.ca/p/municipal-council

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