Chileno Valley Newt Brigade
Newsletter Archive

20 New Brigadiers Needed
As we near the migratory season for newts and other amphibians and reptiles at Laguna Lake in Chileno Valley, our Brigadiers are gearing up for yet another season of rescue work out on the road. Once the migration begins, the Brigadiers will be out each night until the season ends in March, saving newts and other small animals from being run over by automobile traffic on Chileno Valley Road.

So far, 60 Brigadiers are settled into their teams. To adequately cover the road each night, we need 20 more Brigadiers.

If you know of anyone who wants to join us, let them know the commitment is for once a week for 2 hours, right around sunset. Each Brigadier will have a Captain, Co-Captain and team to work with. Thanks to the County Fish and Wildlife Commission, our high-powered flashlights will be donated.

There will be two trainings in October and a Volunteer Welcome Party in November. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact:
volunteers@chilenovalleynewtbrigade.org.

Feasibility Study In Progress
Cheryl Brehme of USGS and Charles Tognaci of Dokken Engineering have begun working on a feasibility study to determine the best constructed safe passages for newts going to and from Laguna Lake during their breeding migration. Safe passage options were shared with neighbors at a community meeting August 26, 2023. The local landowners had many good suggestions.

We are grateful to California Fish and Wildlife for this $77,876 grant. We look forward to working with Marin County on the road improvements they choose. The role of the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade will be to raise funding for this project.

Juvenile Newts Migrate on Their Own Time
Below is a graph from this past 2022-2023 migration season showing juvenile newts migrating at a different time than adult newts. The babies are moving from the lake, while the adults are moving to the lake. The juveniles take off on their own earlier than the adults. It will be interesting to see whether this pattern repeats this year.

AB 1322 is on Gavin Newsom's Desk!
AB 1322 (California Ecosystems Protection Act 2023) is on Gavin Newsom's desk and we need him to sign this bill into law. Please go to Gavin Newsom’s website and ask him to sign AB 1322, an important bill which limits the use of wildlife-deadly rodenticides.

Great New Books on Road Ecology
Our newts are not the only animals challenged by roads and highways. Two new books focus our attention on the damage to wildlife automobiles cause. Both books promote land bridges for migrating animals of all sorts.  
 
Ben Goldfarb’s long-awaited book, “Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet”, and Tiffany Yap’s “Tales of the Urban Wild, a Puma’s Journey”, are both terrific. We highly recommend them (Tiffany is one of us, having saved newts on Chileno Valley Road!)

That’s all for this brief note. There will be more news once the 2023-2024 migratory season begins. We go into this season knowing that more and more people are seeing the need to provide safe crossings for animals across our many roads and highways. Getting rid of the roads is not going to happen — but the way we build our roads and highways will change, in order to sustain wildlife.

Until then, we will be monitoring the feasibility study and planning for next year. Thanks for hanging in there with us!