North section - 03/23/2022
Conducted survey of the North section from 9:00 am - 11:45 am
Weather: Marine layer until 9:45 then clear and sunny
Observers: Robin and Merav
Newts: 162 dead newts, including a few juveniles. Very few fresh, no live newts. Thank goodness the construction-traffic occurred during the day, because there was never more than a 30-second gap in the flow of vehicles. No way any newt or salamander could have crossed.
Dead Non-newts: Alligator Lizard, Western Fence Lizards, Arthropods
Documented Human Activity:
These ridiculous numbers are not a typo! Construction on Northbound Highway 17 at The Cats Saloon area caused a major backup. Many drivers diverted to Alma Bridge Road for a (calculated on Google Maps) significant time savings of 20 minutes. The result was a steady stream of cars on ABR the entire time of the survey, with many annoyed drivers accelerating when they could. For whatever reason, this coincided with a weekend-level number of cyclists, too.
Cars: 434 moving, 13 parked
Trucks: 35 (note that semis are not allowed on Alma Bridge Road)
Motorcycles: 1
Bikes: 30
Pedestrians: 3
Conversations with people about newts: 2
評論
we also had a California Slender Salamander and an unidentified mammal, and a sphynx moth.
Very dangerous situation for conducting a survey! I'm glad no one was injured.
I agree. I was glad there were two of us. We had to stop and watch for cars all the time...
新增評論