Newts Cross the Road Safely, With a Little Help
Northern California is experiencing one of its wettest winters in recent history, with downpours and deluges wreaking havoc in the area.
But north of San Francisco, the town of Petaluma was spared the worst of the storms. There, the rains have spurred thousands of California and rough-skinned newts to emerge from their burrows to search for a lake, stream, pond or puddle to breed in. And for the first time in many years, the newts have a plethora of water bodies to choose from.
What the newts need now is a safe way to get to their rendezvous points. In many places, busy roads lie between newts and their breeding grounds. In Petaluma and other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, thousands of newts are killed by cars each year. The carnage in Petaluma is so extreme that a group of residents has taken it upon themselves to stop it.
For the past four years, volunteers have spent their winter nights shepherding newts across a 1.5-kilometer stretch of Chileno Valley Road, a winding country road in the hills of Petaluma. They call themselves the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade, and their founder, Sally Gale, says they will keep showing up until the newts no longer need them.
On a warm, wet evening in early December, Ms. Gale and her brigaders put on reflective vests, grabbed flashlights and buckets and began scouring the road. The conditions were perfect for newts. It had just rained and the temperature was a brisk 13 degrees Celsius.
Dozens of small, wriggling orange bodies appeared from both sides of the road. While some were adults headed to nearby Laguna Lake to breed, most were juveniles leaving the lake for the first time.
Four years ago, Ms. Gale, who runs a cattle ranch in the area, was driving when she spotted several newts trying to cross the road. She got out of the car and moved them out
of harm’s way, but also noticed dozens of newts that had been run over. The experience inspired her to start the brigade. On busy nights, as many as 24 volunteers help shepherd newts to safety.
“California newts are quite endearing,” said Katie Brammer, a graphic designer and newt brigade captain. “They hold onto your hand as you’re carrying them across the road.”
When a newt is spotted, brigaders work quickly to photograph it and record its location.
They upload this information to the website iNaturalist to help scientists learn more about the region’s newt population.
Then they pick the newt up with gloved hands, place it in a bucket and transport it to the side of the road it was headed toward. They also document dead newts and scrape them up using spatulas.
On that December evening, after two hours, the brigade had transported 452 live newts and disposed of 54 dead ones, a ratio the team was happy with.
Since late November, the group has helped nearly 6,000 newts complete their migration, and have documented just over 1,300 newts killed by cars.
Ms. Gale said that raising the roadbed and installing a small wildlife underpass beneath it would significantly reduce the number of newts that die on the road. The idea is costly but has been proven to work.
“We intend to raise whatever amount is needed to save the newts and other imperiled creatures,” Ms. Gale said.