Newt Brigade dedicated to save at-risk amphibian
Volunteers get them across dangerous road
One night five years ago, Sally Gale was on her way home on a warm, rainy night when she noticed a collection of strange, uniform sticks on the ground.
She got out, and, upon inspection, discovered they were newts — thousands of them — including many that had been run over and squished. The Chileno Valley rancher walked the milelong stretch of road in her heels — her husband following behind her with the car headlights — and saved every newt she could.
“I felt terrible that people were driving over them and killing them,” Gale said. “People were just unaware and they were killing them, so I decided to do something about it.”
Gale called a friend at the state Department of
Fish and Wildlife, and the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade was born. The nonprofit is a group of about 80 volunteers who walk a onemile stretch in teams along Chileno Valley Road every night from October through March, which is the newts' migration season.
The area has two main species of newt: California newts — listed as near threatened by the International Union of Concerned Scientists — and rough skinned newts.
The newts cross the road to get from their woody summer habitat south of the road to their breeding habitat in Laguna Lake on the north side. They then migrate back to the woods across the road in the winter and spring after breeding.
“I had known that the newts move on certain nights, but it hadn't clicked in me what a slaughter it
was for the newts.” Gale said. “At that time I only found five live newts, and about 45 dead ones. By the time I got to the end of that mile I was hard wired to do something about it.”
The volunteers pick up the newts and move them across the road in the direction they were heading. They collect data every night, including the number of dead