PACIFICA TRIBUNE (California) 03 March 08 My Turn: No mystery in quarry snake report (Carlos Davidson is a biologist who worked on the Calera Creek restoration. He is director of the Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University, and lives in Vallemar.)
The Tribune's recent cover story presented the results of the study which Peebles commissioned on the status of San Francisco garter snakes in the quarry as a mystery. On the one hand, trapping for the snake failed to catch any individuals. On the other hand the study concluded that "development of the property is expected to have significant and unavoidable impacts to the CRF (California red-legged frog) and SFGS (San Francisco garter snake) dispersal habitat."
The answer to this supposed mystery is simple: the quarry was determined to be excellent snake habitat, yet no snakes were captured because they currently are not yet in the quarry and are only present in low numbers. The San Francisco garter snake once lived in the quarry and snakes are very likely to return to the quarry in the future. There is a growing population right across the ridge at Mori point, and historically snakes have been observed crossing the saddle between Mori point and the quarry. Hence development in the quarry will harm snake habitat and therefore the snake.
Certainly Don Peebles and Daniel Grimm (Peebles Corporation executive) know this. After all, if they did not understand the results of the study they commissioned and paid for they have had over a year to ask the study author to explain it. Their public musings about the study are an attempt to suggest that the study is contradictory or some how flawed. To Peebles' credit, he hired a top-notch biological consulting firm (Swaim Biological) to conduct the snake study. But now that the results are in, he is trying to discredit the study.
There is a key piece of history behind all this. The San Francisco garter snake once was a well known inhabitant of the quarry. Then in 1989, William Bottoms, the previous owner of the quarry, bulldozed and filled in quarry ponds in a deliberate and illegal effort to get rid of the snake. The effort was successful in terms of ridding the quarry of San Francisco garter snakes, but Mr. Bottoms was caught by the Fish and Wildlife Service. As a result there was an effort to restore Calera creek and make new ponds in hopes of once again having the quarry support San Francisco garter snakes. The restored riparian vegetation, several creek-side ponds, and flourishing California red-legged frog population in Calera Creek all make it excellent San Francisco Garter Snake habitat.
One of the reasons Peebles got the quarry land relatively cheaply was that the site is the known home to two federally listed species the endangered San Francisco garter snake and the threatened California red-legged frog. The snake is considered by many to be the most beautiful snake in the world. It lives only along the San Mateo coast.
Despite four decades of federal protection its numbers have continued to decline as one development project after another has reduced its habitat.
It is the classic case of death by a thousand cuts no single project has huge negative effects, but taken together each of these projects pushes the snake closer and closer to extinction. Peebles knew full well about the snake and red-legged frog when he purchased the quarry. He should ensure that any development proposals are consistent with the continued existence of these species in the quarry. A first step would be to stop trying to discredit the snake study and acknowledge that the quarry is important habitat for both the San Francisco garter snake and the red-legged frog.
No mystery in quarry snake report