More than 5,000 newts a year are killed by crossing a 4-mile stretch of road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and a group of volunteers have been documenting them.
The newt patrol aren't able to save many newts because it's illegal to station along the mountain road at night. Biologist Merav Vonshak leads a group of volunteers who document the dead.
In late fall, when many juvenile newts die, it's really heartbreaking.
Researchers at the UC Davis Road Ecology Center discovered that the newts crossing the road were experiencing one of the highest roadkill rates reported for any wildlife species in the world. If nothing is done, the adult California newt population along theAlma Bridge Road will disappear in about 50 years.
Vonshak says the report presented an optimistic view. The population would be affected by the climate crisis and development.
Between 2008 and 2016 the body condition of Southern California newts declined by 20 percent. Gary Bucciarelli, who led the 2020 study, said that it was a sign that temperature extremes and the effects of global warming were already affecting Pacific newts. He says that newts in Northern California will suffer the same consequences in the future.
The newts are dealing with climate change and are getting hammered.
You want to fight for it.
It's not a sustainable solution for her and her brigade to keep up their work for so long.
Both newt groups have been petitioning for longer-term solutions, such as closing the roads during migration season or elevating the roads so at least some of the newts can cross safely underneath.
Their efforts have not gained much traction so far. Past grant applications to elevate stretches of the road were rejected. The newts, which are not listed as threatened, are less likely to be prioritized for state or federal funding.
The California Assembly introduced a bill last month that would require the state transportation agency to implement 10 projects to improve wildlife connections. Underpasses for newt populations on state roads and major highways could be funded if that bill is signed into law. Since both roads are county-managed, neither would be helped directly.
The former director of the botanical gardens at UC Berkeley, who has advised, says that it is difficult to save the newts while we are also building more highways.
What is your alternative? He asked if it was to do nothing.
That view as well. She says that being outside on dark, damp nights and holding up the newts can help overcome all the uncertainty and worry.
brigadier Shannon Drew says it's like holding a human baby.
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