Shepherding newts to safety
Photo credit: Connor Long
Urgent Action Alert!
The Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) is currently deciding Measure AA funding priorities. This is a rare opportunity to support a planning grant for a wildlife undercrossing that protects animals, improves safety, and reflects community environmental values.
Please write TAM board members to urge TAM to make this project a priority!
If you live in Marin County, find your representative here.
If you do not live in Marin County, send your message to TAM’s general email: info@tam.ca.gov
This will help create a science-based solution to safely assist the animals that migrate to and from their breeding lake, crossing dangerous Chileno Valley Road. Since the CVNB’s inception in 2019, volunteers have rescued nearly 39,000 newts, while more than 11,000 have been recorded as roadkill.
Here is a sample email:
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Subject: Please Support Wildlife Crossing Funding on Chileno Valley Road
Dear [Commissioner/TAM Board],
I’m writing to urge you to support funding for a planning grant for a permanent wildlife crossing on Chileno Valley Road.
Each year, thousands of animals are killed trying to cross this road to reach Laguna Lake. Volunteers have stepped in to help, but this is not a long-term or scalable solution.
Funding planning now allows wildlife crossing improvements to be included when the road is repaired, saving time and public money later. Measure AA was approved to maintain roads while also protecting environmental quality, and this project clearly does both.
Please support funding for the Chileno Valley wildlife crossing planning grant.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
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Notice this newt’s swollen tail, developed by males during their aquatic stage.
California Newt (Taricha torosa)
Newts are a type of salamander. They may live up to 30 years. They breed in the water bodies where they were hatched. They feed on mosquito larvae, worms, snails, slugs and sow bugs. Endemic to California, their presence defines many a childhood spent turning over rocks and logs.
This Rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) was one of the other critters we found crossing Chileno Valley Road.
Volunteers use the iNaturalist app to collect and share data. During the winter of 2021 – 2022 we made 5,500 observations, covering 9 species, including California Newt (Taricha torosa), Sierran Tree Frog (Pseudacris sierra), California Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus), Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii), Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris), California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii), Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas), and Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata).
Rough-skinned Newt. Peter Pearsall/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
“Newts are an aquatic indicator species. The health of the population can indicate the health of other aquatic species and, more broadly, the health of a watershed.”
— Gail Seymour, retired Sr. Environmental Scientist, CA Dept. Fish and Wildlife
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Another Rough-skinned Newt saved from likely vehicular slaughter on Chileno Valley Road
“Each time we rescue slippery, spotted beings we attest to their right to be, to live in the sovereign territory of their own lives. Carrying salamanders to safety also helps us to remember the covenant of reciprocity, the mutual responsibility that we have for each other.”