About a hundred miles south of the Chileno Valley Road, another group of volunteers – the Newt Alma Bridge Patrol – toiled document recording More than 5,000 newts die each year while crossing a 4-mile stretch in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Unlike Gale’s brigade, the newt patrol couldn’t save many newts — it was illegal for them to be stationed along the winding mountain road at night. Instead, about a dozen volunteers, led by biologist Merav Vonshak, recorded those who died.
“It’s really heartbreaking, especially in late autumn, when many juvenile newts die,” Vonshak said. “As a scientist, I try to separate myself and focus on the importance of documenting this.”
Using data from volunteers, researchers at the UC Davis Center for Road Ecology discovered that newts crossing Alma Bridge experienced one of the highest rates of falls reported for any wildlife species in the world. ONE study authorized by local officials found that adult populations of California newts along the Alma Bridge Road would disappear completely within about 50 years if nothing is done.
If anything, the report offers an optimistic view, Vonshak said. It does not consider how the climate crisis and development will affect populations.
Researchers have establish According to Gary Bucciarelli, an indication of the body condition of Southern California newts — a measure that compares weight and length — has decreased by 20 percent between 2008 and 2016. It’s an indication of extreme temperatures. Extremes and droughts — exacerbated by a global warming system — have affected Pacific newts, according to Gary Bucciarelli, a conservation biologist at UCLA who led the 2020 study. Northern California is likely to suffer similar consequences in the coming years, he said.
Newts are “dealing with longer-lasting drought and changing rainfall patterns due to climate change, they’re dealing with wildfires,” Bucciarelli said. “They’re being hammered very hard.”
“You want to fight for it”
Gale knows that she and her brigade can only continue their work in the long run. “Of course, that’s not a sustainable solution,” she said.
Both groups of newts have petitioned for more permanent solutions — in favor of closing roads during the migration season or elevating roads so that at least some newts can cross below a safe way.
But so far, their efforts have garnered little traction. Previous funding applications to raise sections of the Alma Bridge Road and create new intersections have been denied. And newts, which are not listed as endangered or threatened, are less likely to be prioritized for existing state or federal funding for such projects.
Conservationists are lobbying for a new bill, introduced at the California Council last month, that would require the state transportation agency to take on 10 projects to improve wildlife connections each year. If it is signed into law, that measure could help fund tunnels for newt populations on state roads and major highways. But because both Alma Bridge Road and Chileno Valley Road are county-administered roads, neither is directly helped.
“It’s tough, because how long can we save newts while we’re also building more highways?” Paul Licht, former director of the botanical garden at UC Berkeley, who has offered advice on efforts to protect migratory newts. “I mean – not long.”
“But what is your alternative? For what? ” he added.
That is also Gale’s view. And there’s something about being outside on dark, wet nights and holding squirming newts, she says, that can help get through all the uncertainty and anxiety.
Brigade Shannon Drew said: “It’s like when you hold a newborn baby. “It’s that precious, small, perfect thing you’re holding — and you want to fight for it.”
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