Salamanders
14 inches deep and one 18 inches deep.
Soft fencing will be installed soon as a barrier to steer the salamanders — or anything else that comes along — into the tunnel and to the vernal pools that are as far as a half-mile to the north.
Small signs denote “salamander conservation project underway.” Though there are several species of salamanders in the park, the mostcommon is the tiger salamander, which is named for its coloring and is the largest land-dwelling salamander in Ohio, growing sometimes to as much as a foot long.
This project is a first for Metro Parks, and officials are unaware of any similar set-up around the state.
The Ohio Department of Transportation, when it built the Route 33 Nelsonville bypass between Columbus and Athens in 2013, did include 12,000 feet of low mesh fencing to help protect the endangered timber rattlesnake.
The fencing has a lip so the snakes can't slither over it and instead are forced to cross the highway by using tunnel-like culverts under the road.
Tunnels for amphibians built elsewhere across the country have had varying degrees of success, complicated by the fact that solid concrete culverts are not always ideal, Biegler said. Salamanders like damp conditions, and they navigate using moonlight and starlight, so the cattle grate construction here was used to keep their journey as natural as possible, with light still filtering in and moisture surrounding them.
No one knows exactly what to expect when migrations begin this year, which could happen as early as this week or go into late April or early May — depending on when temperatures average at least 45 degrees for several days and the rains come.
To see if salamanders use the tunnels this year, some traps will be set and monitoring teams will be out on nights when the conditions may be right to try to see what is happening. (This is not to say that the public is invited to do likewise; extraordinary crowds showing up would disturb their rituals, naturalists say.)
The data collection that will happen over time with the tunnels will be key in coming up with a long-term solution, said Kevin Kasnyik, who was park manager at Battelle Darby Creek for about 15 years and is now manager of park operations for Metro Parks.
This tunnel project, which Metro Parks spent about $21,000 to undertake, was really his baby.
He said they knew 15 years ago that if they were successful in restoring the wetlands and prairies at the park — and they have been — the species that live here would increase.
But with progress, no matter how careful you are, comes alterations to natural habitats, Kasnyik said.
The nature center was built, roads went in, trails were established — and those all mean obstacles to migrations.
But the salamanders head out after dark, and since the park closes at 8 p.m., Jack Mcdowell Way isn't the biggest problem.
That's Darby Creek Drive, which is a heavily traveled, publicly owned main road that cuts through the 7,000-acre park that sits near Galloway and West Jefferson near the Franklin and Madison County line.
The hope is that with what they learn about the pathways of various species — salamanders generally follow the same path to the vernal pool where they themselves hatched — they can begin to plan for a solution to stop the carnage each spring on Darby Creek Drive.
When the spring peepers, for example, start their annual breeding trek, it can be a bit of a bloodbath on the highway, Metro Parks spokeswoman Peg Hanley said.
This is not just a Battelle Darby Creek park problem, obviously.
In some places, such as in certain spots of Summit Metro Parks and Cleveland Metroparks in northeast Ohio, private park roads can be temporarily closed to keep amphibians and reptiles safe.
And experts have for years been studying ways to make the migrations safer for species that live in Cuyahoga Valley National Park between Cleveland and Akron.
Sonia Bingham, a wetland biologist with the National Park Service there, said that monitoring teams spent nine nights in the spring of 2017 trying to get a handle on how many deaths occur.
“It was not insignificant,” Bingham said.
Monitors counted 501 amphibians, including spring peepers, multiple frog species and spotted salamanders, by using fencing and buckets in holes to trap them.
But of the ones that didn't make it into the holes?
“We found we have close to 20% of our amphibian populations that are crossing in just the one area monitored who are hit by traffic,” she said.
The hope, she said, is to be able to fund a permanent solution.
That's what Biegler and Kasnyik want, too, for Battelle Darby Creek.
“Hopefully, the data from these new tunnels will lead us to something bigger and better as a solution up on Darby Creek Drive, and we'll learn what works and what doesn't,” Kasnyik said.
“We will learn a lot from this.” For now, though, Biegler and others who are invested in this project will walk the roads after dark checking to see if any salamanders have emerged for their annual love run.
And they'll hope for the best. hzachariah@dispatch.com @hollyzachariah
CARROLL TOWNSHIP – A Michigan woman was arrested after more than 46 pounds of suspected marijuana was allegedly found in a vehicle she was driving on Ohio 2 this week.
Amanda Magdoline Brewart, 29, of Macomb, Michigan, was arrested Sunday and charged with one count each of drug trafficking and drug possession, both second-degree felonies, one misdemeanor count of obstructing official business, and two minor misdemeanor traffic violations for speeding and nontransparent tinted windows.
According to a report from the Ottawa County Sheriff 's Office, a deputy initially observed a 2019 black pickup heading east on Ohio 2 near Ohio 590, which radar indicated was traveling at 72 mph.
The speed limit at that location is 55 mph. The sheriff's deputy initiated a traffic stop and made contact with Brewart, who was driving the truck.
The deputy reported an odor of raw marijuana coming from the vehicle and asked Brewart if there was any marijuana in the truck.
Brewart allegedly showed the deputy two vape pens and said that they contained THC, the psychoactive chemical from marijuana.
The deputy then requested another officer to the scene to provide assistance with a search of the vehicle.
Brewart allegedly refused to get out of the driver's seat for a time until both deputies eventually assisted her to exit, without further incident.
Upon searching the bed of the truck, which had a tonneau cover on it, a deputy found two black trash bags.
Inside the two trash bags were 45 individual clear bags each containing just over a pound of suspected marijuana, according to the report.
The marijuana was estimated to have a street value of $55,000, according to police. Brewart was subsequently arrested and taken to the Ottawa County Detention Facility.
She is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on the charges Wednesday in the Ottawa County Municipal Count. jstinchcom@gannett.com 419-680-4897
Twitter: @JONDBN