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Tracking Ontario’s Snakes: A Growing Monitoring Effort

7 May 2026 at 17:38

Following the successful ten-year run of the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, Ontario Nature developed a Long-Term Monitoring Protocol (LTMP) to fill important knowledge gaps about Ontario’s common and at-risk snakes. Since 2019, we’ve expanded the LTMP from nine monitoring locations to over 60 sites across the province! We recently published a Story Map where you can learn all about this project and how to get involved.

The Long-Term Monitoring Protocol (LTMP)

Ontario Nature’s Long-Term Monitoring Protocol (LTMP) for snakes was launched in 2019. It uses standardized survey methods across a large geographic area to help improve our understanding of snake populations, detect changes over time, and guide conservation efforts. The LTMP brings together First Nations, scientists, landowners and volunteers to monitor snakes across the province, using plywood boards placed within snake habitat.

Long-term snake monitoring participants flipping pre-placed coverboards to look for snakes — ^{Project participants checking under a plywood board for snakes at a training event © Ethan Owen}

What’s in the Story Map?

The LTMP Story Map is a platform with text, maps, figures, and photos that showcases this project. It includes:

Background information about why we’re monitoring snakes
An overview of the methods used
Interactive maps showing our partners and how the project has grown over time
Early results from the first five years of data collection
Information about the events we run
How to get involved
Lots of photos!

^{Sites conducting snake surveys using the Long-Term Monitoring Protocol. Sites in darker green have been part of the project for longer; sites in lighter green have joined the project more recently.}

Help us monitor snakes!

You can participate in snake surveys as a volunteer or set up a new snake monitoring site! Many of the existing sites are monitored by volunteers and may be looking for more people to help with surveys. If you have access to land with suitable snake habitat, you could set up your own site with plywood boards, survey for snakes, and contribute data to our province-wide database.

Eastern foxsnake found during LTMP surveys, species at risk, threatened species at risk in Ontario — ^{Eastern foxsnake found during LTMP surveys © Teagan Netten}

Learn more

Check out the LTMP Story Map to find out more about the project and how to join! You can learn more about snakes and other reptiles and amphibians of Ontario in the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. Test your knowledge with our identification quizzes!

The Story Map development was generously supported by the Hodgson Family Foundation.