How Did the Newt Cross the Road? With Help From These Volunteers, Carefully | KQED

"Along Alma Bridge Road near Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos, volunteers with a group called Newt Patrol have spent years documenting the toll. Since 2017, community scientists have recorded more than 36,000 dead newts on this single 4.2-mile stretch of road alone. In some early years, surveys averaged roughly 6,000 dead newts per season. "They move very slow, and they're kind of soft and squishy in a nice way. They're just not adapted to roads," said Merav Vonshak, an ecologist who organizes Newt Patrol."

"This means that "every time I look at them, especially the live ones, it's so moving and wonderful," Vonshak said. Still, the numbers are stark. Vonshak has personally documented more than 15,000 dead newts over the years, while encountering only a handful of living creatures during daytime surveys."

"When confronted by cars, newts often freeze rather than flee - a strategy shaped long before pavement. And the study found that nearly 40% of newts attempting to cross Alma Bridge Road in a single migration season were killed by vehicles: a rate that could drive local populations to extinction within decades. "That really spurred us into action," said Ryan McCauley, public affairs specialist at Midpen. "Within our lifetime, we could see those local newt populations disappear.""

Volunteers with Newt Patrol have recorded more than 36,000 dead newts on a 4.2-mile stretch of Alma Bridge Road since 2017, with early seasons averaging about 6,000 deaths. Many volunteers, including organizer Merav Vonshak, have documented thousands of carcasses while rarely encountering live animals during daytime surveys. Volunteer data prompted the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to pause a planned trail project and fund a wildlife mortality study. The study found that nearly 40% of migrating newts attempting to cross Alma Bridge Road are killed by vehicles, a mortality rate that could drive local populations to extinction within decades, prompting newt passage efforts.

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