(uplifting music)
- California tiger salamanders are endemic to California.
They spend about 95% of their lives in the uplands,
which is grassland like this,
grazed oak woodlands, and some chaparral.
Right now, I'm standing in a stock pond
that was probably built in the '50s
by the ranchers out here,
and the salamanders live in these stock ponds
when they're breeding.
When they're born, their legs are scrawny and weak
and as they mature and get stronger,
then the legs get more buff.
You can see how his legs,
you can actually use them to maneuver a little bit.
Likely, years and years and years ago,
there were vernal pools,
which the salamanders used to breed in.
The ranchers, when they came in,
were digging up stock ponds for their cattle
and the salamanders moved in.
As you can see, this area is grassland,
it's rolling hills, it's beautiful.
A lot of development has taken place
in tiger salamander habitat.
The ranches have been sold off to developers
or even to ag conversion for vineyards.
We're looking to conserve habitat
and to keep the habitat connected,
so we don't want barriers in between habitats
and we wanna have these large swaths of land
that are conserved and managed for them in perpetuity.
- These species have evolved over millennia
to these conditions
and certainly they're being bombarded
with changes in a much faster pace,
but I do think there is some opportunity.
(backhoe beeps)
Within those grasslands, which is the primary habitat,
we're usually working with clients
that are either doing development related projects
so they're going to be completely eliminating habitat.
With those clients,
we're usually working with a mitigation strategy
that helps them come up with an approach
that minimizes impacts,
while at the same time fully compensating
for the loss of habitat that they're often incurring.
- There definitely is a balance
between our business model,
which is to develop and deliver homes for our customers,
and good stewardship of the land.
The need for housing in California
is a very complicated issue right now.
We have a bit of a housing crisis here
and primarily, it's generated by the lack of availability.
Parks and open space,
and the native species in the area
is part of what we have to consider
when we're developing property and when we own land.
Part of the deal with developing our Sage project
was that we had to acquire additional land
that was suitable California tiger salamander habitat.
Fortunately, I was able to find a rancher
that had a piece of property that was ideal
and so I spent a lot of time
negotiating with that property owner
for how we could use his land
as a mitigation area for my project.
He could continue to use his land
for what he had traditionally used it for,
for generations, which was cattle ranching.
It took six to eight months
of having a lot of steak dinners
in order to convince him
that it was a good thing for both of us.
- We're working on a site
that's a residential mixed-use development.
We are in the process of relocating
California tiger salamanders from this site
and moving them to some protected areas,
mitigation areas that are being established
as mitigation for this project.
- [Man] And we have one right here.
- [Woman] Measure her out.
- [Steve] The lands that we are protecting
are some of the best tiger salamander habitat left
in California, particularly.
We have about 700 acres that are being established
in and around this development area as mitigation.
They will be under conservation easement,
a management plan,
oriented towards protecting the salamander
and all of that is being funded by the developer.
There is an endowment fund
that will take care of the land in perpetuity.
- I do believe that it's important for us
to plan for and understand
what our impacts as human beings are
to the natural environment.
- I'll have guys come to me and be like,
yeah, I went home and I Googled those species
and that's really cool.
I had no idea that they lived in burrows their whole lives
and they use ponds.
And so I think that there is some value
to that educational opportunity.
- California tiger salamanders
are one of California's legacies.
Whether it's a citizens group
that's protecting the salamanders
that are walking across the road
and getting run over by cars,
or it's the developers coming in
for an incidental take permit,
or if it's the ranchers that are maintaining their ponds
and grazing the land.
It's gonna take all of us working together
to make sure that all of our listed species can survive.
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