OTTAWA – The federal government is coming to the rescue of a small frog in a Montreal suburban area on the south shore of the St. Lawrence.

Environment and Climate Change Canada is imposing an emergency order to protect a habitat for the western chorus frog, a 2.5-cm amphibian which has seen a sharp population decline in recent years.

The order covers about two square kilometres in the municipalities of La Prairie, Candiac and Saint Philippe.

The department says the order won’t affect the planned development a school and arena in La Prairie, but it does mean that 171 units of a proposed 1,200-unit housing project will not be built.

The order bars construction or the destruction of any vegetation, forbids any activity that would change water flows and prohibits an off-road use of motor vehicles, all-terrain vehicles or a snowmobiles in the affected area.

The tiny chorus frog is listed as threatened species due to habitat loss and degradation because of, among other things, urban development, intensified agriculture, climate change and pesticides and fertilizers.

In the Monteregie region south of Montreal, the amphibian has lost more than 90 per cent of its historical range, with the greatest loss in La Prairie.

The chorus frog is native to southern Ontario and parts of eastern Quebec.

It breeds in temporary ponds, then moves into surrounding woods, prairies and pastures.

In spring it can be recognized by its breeding call, which resembles the sound of a fingernail running along the teeth of a comb.

The government said it consulted the affected municipalities, the Quebec government, developers and environmental groups before imposing the emergency order.

“We have also ensured that the socio-economic impacts of the order are kept to a minimum,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said in a statement. “We firmly believe that economic development and the protection of biodiversity can, and must, go hand in hand.”