The southwest bend of Peter White Drive from the MooseWood Nature Center to the gate north of the Presque Isle Park pavilion continues to be closed to vehicular traffic to help blue-spotted salamanders safely migrate. The section will be closed daily from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. until the anticipated end of the migration on April 30. (Photo courtesy of the Superior Watershed Partnership)

MARQUETTE — There still are plenty of blue-spotted creatures on the move in Presque Isle Park.

In cooperation with the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Northern Michigan University Department of Biology, the city of Marquette will extend the closure of a portion of Peter White Drive in Presque Isle Park to facilitate the continued safe migration of the blue-spotted salamander.

The southwest bend of Peter White Drive from MooseWood Nature Center to the gate north of the pavilion will close to vehicular traffic daily from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. until the anticipated end of the migration on April 30.

Road barricades will be placed and removed daily to prevent vehicular use of the migration area. Foot traffic is permitted in the area during regular park hours.

Traffic isn’t always the easiest thing to navigate for the slow-moving amphibians, and unfortunately, there was a lot of salamander mortality on Peter White Drive, according to NMU student Eli Bieri, who in 2018 noticed vehicles were killing the migrating salamanders.

“When the weather’s right, usually like 45 degrees or so and a little rainy, even if there’s snow on the ground, salamanders will start migrating to their breeding pools,” Bieri told The Mining Journal in 2019. “They’ll come from the interior of the peninsula and kind of all en masse just start moving toward the breeding ponds.”

The Presque Isle Park salamanders this year have that same instinct.

Tyler Penrod, Great Lakes Conservation Corps program manager with the SWP, said the original plan this year was to have the closure run from March 15 to today, but migration is continuing.

“I would say it’s getting towards the end, but we’re still seeing several dozen each night,” he said.

The SWP building is located in the vicinity of the salamander migrations, which take place across Peter White Drive toward MooseWood where wetland areas are found.

The road closures, which began in the spring of 2020, have been successful in reducing salamander mortality.

“In 2019, there were over 400 salamanders that were killed by vehicle traffic, and in 2020, that number fell to three salamanders that were killed,” Penrod said.

It might be too early to determine this spring’s mortality rate, but the outlook appears good.

“We’re still collecting that data, but it looks like it’ll be another successful season for the salamanders,” Penrod said.

He acknowledged it will be up to the city of Marquette to continue future road closures.

The partnership between the city and the SWP, though, has been a good one, he said.

“We’re just thankful that the road closure is being extended to help finish their migration this year,” Penrod said.