Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.
The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one and maybe two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.
The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.
Reptile expert Jim Andrews says the crossing at Huizenga Swamp is one of the most important of the known amphibian crossings in the state.
For the last nine years a group of Monkton residents has monitored the swamp-side road crossing, in some cases helping the creatures cross the road.