It sounds too good to be true.  Owls returning to the habitat from where they had just been evicted.  Owls re-establishing themselves just in time for breeding season and able to contribute to a declining Bay Area burrowing owl population.  Incredible!

Incredible is indeed the word and I must say perfectly describes the inconceivable antics of those directly responsible for a 27% drop in numbers since 1993.  It’s all about maintaining the land burrowing owl free so as to avoid the infiltration of breeding pairs that may play house this spring and prevent construction of MUCH needed homes.  Oh, but perhaps I spoke to soon as we are again being warned that the housing market recovery is still quite unstable.  As reported today in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Sales of previously owned homes plunged in January to their lowest level since summer, providing fresh evidence that high unemployment and tight lending standards are outweighing the government’s attempts to prop up the market.”

But, I believe it is not about whether houses are actually needed as opposed to keeping conditional use permits with the city of Antioch active.  I’m sure a trip to City Hall next week will confirm my thoughts.  In the meantime, owls in the form of decoys have been installed throughout the landscape in an effort to prevent the return of ground squirrels and burrowing owls.  According to the CDFG approved eviction plan,

“After western burrowing owls and California ground squirrels are removed from the project site, monitoring will commence to ensure that burrowing owls do not become re-established on the project site.  Monitoring will commence initially weekly for the first 60 days, and bi-monthly through the commencement of construction of homes on the finished lots.  As the project site will be cleared of all owls through implementation of this eviction plan, and continuously monitored, any owl that shows up on the site would be a very recent occupant and would not be nesting.  Accordingly, if a western burrowing owl shows up outside the passive eviction timeframe (October 1st to February 1st) eviction procedures would immediately commence again as approved by the CDFG. “

A few of the decoys installed to keep owls and squirrels away

And with the recent news from the Attorney General citing a conflict of interest, it is again up to the People to provide government agency oversight and ensure laws enacted to protect wildlife are actually being followed.  Here’s a hint…they are not.

The day has come for a response from the California Attorney General’s office in regards to my letter and request for burrowing owl assistance.  After numerous calls and emails to the ‘Office’ over the last month regarding burrowing owl evictions, I was informed during today’s conversation that there may be a potential conflict of interest.  And if you sense a red flag then you are most certainly not alone.

Proceeding a potential hardcopy that may formally arrive via mail in the next day or so was a scanned copy from the Natural Resource  Section patiently awaiting my inbox perusal.    The contents of the letter are as follows (click here for a larger image):

I can definitely understand the concept of a conflict of interest so no arguments here.  Oh, except that it is too bad California’s agencies do not appear interested in protecting the People’s burrowing owl populations and wildlife resources.  But to that I must say Bravo to those employees (scientists, biologists, etc.)  working to correct the status quo and make conservation a priority.  And the saga continues…

And just when one thought the burrowing owl dilemma in the East San Francisco Bay Area could not get any more incredible, a series of shady events unfolded during the last two weeks.  I held off reporting some of these facts because I have been in direct contact with and awaiting responses from the Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), but I could do so no longer.  As I huddled in the shadow of the Heidelberg castle in Germany amidst a light snowfall last week, I discovered via a text message that an owl occupied burrow had been blocked by numerous tumbleweeds.

These magic tumbleweeds managed to crawl up a retaining wall and settle on top of a burrow entrance.  And without any wind to propel the rolling plant and a locked chain link fence keeping out unauthorized personnel, I can only surmise that the culprits must have had a key to this patch of land.  And all of this occurred just days after the CDFG issued Monk & Associates a notice to remove all one-way eviction doors and refrain from collapsing any more burrows on the property.  Perhaps the CDFG should have been more specific in their request, but then again I could not have imagined such a crafty solution for evicting burrowing owls.

And after my tumultuous return from Germany and rush to address the Burrowing Owl Consortium last weekend, I visited the project site for the first time in a week.  To my surprise the tumbleweeds were gone, but unfortunately so was the owl.  It was then that I realized my victory was just as short-lived as the burrowing owls’ stay of execution.  By the way, I am still waiting for answers from the CDFG.

Yet the saga continued and the unexplained events were not limited to the prior week.  During a few stolen minutes from lunch on Monday , I witnessed tumbleweeds being collected and strategically positioned on a slope.   Had I not encountered a previous tumbleweed scheme, I may not have been so leery of the situation that unfolded before my eyes.  And so I waited for the day to end and the activity to fade.  And just before sunset I returned with a telephoto lens to capture evidence of an eviction door behind a wall of tumbleweeds.  No comments necessary!  Phone calls to the CDFG were not returned, and my emails were returned with zero information pertaining to the events. 

So the tale of Antioch’s Blue Ridge burrowing owls continues to twist in directions that I could never had imagined.  I am looking forward to some revelations next week that may in fact define our next steps.

Over the last 9 years I have found myself many a time contemplating aberrant results.  If ever there was (or is) an inevitable lesson that one encounters in biology it is without a doubt a need to be at one with the occasional unexplainable event.  I can tell you firsthand this is indeed an inherent function of  microbiology, cell biology, molecular biology, and wildlife biology.  Even before I left the confines of high school I was introduced to this notion through the cinematic spectacle  Jurassic Park…you know the story.  Life finds a way.

And that is exactly what I thought was taking place at the Kiper Homes’ Blue Ridge development in Antioch.  Burrowing owls lose habitat, burrowing owls find habitat, burrowing owls evicted, and burrowing owls return.  As I posted on January 19th, Monk & Associates evicted the last pair of owls from their nesting burrow on the 13th.  By the time I made the news public it had been 6 days since I had seen any owls on the property.  I was resigned to the fact that the resident owls I had protected for over a year had become the latest victims in the struggle of man versus nature.  And to quote Jurassic Park, “The lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here, uh… staggers me.”

Yet my wife and I continued to monitor the progress of the eviction even though the owls had gone and the rain fell incessantly.  Perhaps curiosity, maybe plain disdain, or more likely it was just a habit that kept us coming back.  And over a 9 day period human and owl activity could not be measured.   Life does find a way, and that happened on day 10.  Two individuals and the last evicted pair had made their presence known by excavating their sealed burrow entrances. Life had returned to the site despite the evictions and on the heels of an impending breeding season.  As the beginning of the week faded, I began to hold hope that the 4 owls might cross safely into courtship and thus start a chain of events for their ultimate protection.  But then the sun appeared on the horizon and Wednesday was born. 

Monk & Associates were seen canvassing the area, marking doomed burrows with red flags, and were once again uprooting owls. As Wednesday night turned to Thursday morning, the owls that had instilled hope were eviction victims for the second time. DAMN.

Life does not conform to the conveniences of humankind.  And with that in mind I clearly have some lingering questions.  Firstly, what assurances do we have and what precautions were taken by the evicting biologists to ensure the pair had not laid eggs?  Burrowing owls do not adhere to our calendar nor to a paperwork definition of a breeding season.

Secondly, why is the inadequate eviction plan not being followed as stated?  It is only a fragment of the recommended process yet portions of it still go unfulfilled.  Case in point, many evicted burrows are not backfilled or hand collapsed but simply plugged with a shovel full of dirt.  This leads to the return of owls and forces multiple evictions to be implemented.  Additionally, why are available burrows being closed with dirt as opposed to the use of one-way doors?  When 4 out of 5 burrows in a particular section are sealed with soil as opposed to being fitted with one-way doors it is quite disconcerting.

"The Giant Destroyer" gas bomb

Thirdly, can someone explain the presence of two used ground squirrel gas bombs at the entrance of  an owl-occupied burrow?  The following photo was provided to JournOwl.com on the condition that posting would be done with complete anonymity.  I have a few ideas that range from an innocuous biological event that occurred post-squirrel fumigation to one that is characterized by ineptitude. But I’ll leave it at that.

So as I sit here reflecting on the situation I find it necessary to update the timeline once again; Burrowing owls lose habitat, burrowing owls find habitat, burrowing owls evicted, burrowing owls return, and burrowing owls evicted.  Life does find a way, but man also finds a way to ensure development goes unimpeded.   I was reminded of a paraphrased quote from the Ken Burns’ National Parks documentary that was attributed to John Muir and highly applicable,

“The enemies of wilderness are invincible  and they are everywhere…but the fight must go on.”

Although true, they don’t win every time and to that I must add I’m quite tenacious.  But the leaders ordained to spearhead conservation and protect California’s wildlife continue to be mysteriously quiet on the issue.  A word of advice to CDFG management, silence is not always the best or most appropriate policy…especially when your employers, The People of California, are beckoning.

Dear Attorney General Brown,

I am formally requesting that an investigation be implemented into the current California Department of Fish & Game’s (CDFG) burrowing owl eviction policies.  As you may be aware, the S.F. Bay Area has become enveloped in an owl eviction controversy because of a CDFG approved eviction plan that is currently underway at the Kiper Homes’ Blue Ridge development in Antioch, CA. 

It has come to my attention that CDFG management in Sacramento, California has been suppressing a report by CDFG biologists and owl experts regarding the conservation of burrowing owls.  The burrowing owl conservation guidleines, dated April 14, 2008:

• Outlines the proper protocol for a passive relocation to minimize “Take”
• Indicates that current mitigation measures will no longer be used because it does not adequately compensate for habitat loss
• Takes advantage of temporary opportunities to conserve burrowing owls while longer-term regional programs and conservation plans are developed
• States that concerted conservation actions are needed to maintain viable burrowing owl populations in California and to help prevent the need to list this species under the state or federal endangered species acts
• Provides guidance that supersedes and augments or clarifies the current Department’s Staff Report on Burrowing Owl Mitigation
• And ubiquitously recognizes that because owls are dependent on burrows for survival and reproduction, excluding them from nesting, roosting, and satellite burrows on a project site may actually lead to direct or indirect take and therefore is a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (16 U.S.C. 703-711), California Admin. Code, Title. 14, § 251.1, Harassment of Animals, California Fish and Game Code Sections 1801-1802 (2008), CEQA, etc.

Even more disturbing is the likelihood that the CDFG is and has continued to conceal the report over the last two years in an effort to afford developers a free reign in removing burrowing owls from breeding, wintering, and critical California habitat. These actions beg the question as to why CDFG management does not like to ask developers to comply with an agency report designed to conserve an ailing burrowing owl population.  I have also come across information indicating that CDFG management is trying to quickly revise the policy without the input of CDFG burrowing owl experts.  This is a contradiction of the agency’s mission:

The Mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

Additionally, this information comes on the heels of a 2004 revelation in which documents were made public through a California Public Records Act request.  The August 2003 Petition Evaluation for Western Burrowing Owl revealed that the CDFG covered up a department report recommending that the western burrowing owl be considered for endangered or threatened status under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).  According to the Center for Biological Diversity:

“The improperly withheld report evaluated a formal petition to list the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) submitted by conservation organizations in April of 2003. The California Fish and Game Commission voted 4-0 in December 2003 to reject the burrowing owl petition, based in part on a second contradictory CDFG report blatantly biased against listing and widely criticized by conservationists and owl experts as fraught with inaccuracies and inconsistencies. In contrast, the report CDFG refused to release to the Commission and the public recommended that the owl be immediately protected as a “Candidate” species while a year-long status review was conducted by DFG.”

The CDFG has no authority to authorize the “Take” (defined by CDFG code as hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill) of burrowing owls or other raptors except pursuant to a Natural Community Conservation Plan (NCCP).  Because existing practices for excluding owls usually employ only portions of the appropriate methods or employ the methods inadequately, there is a higher likelihood that current policies are resulting in direct take or are the proximate cause of take. Thus, the CDFG is actively approving eviction plans that are responsible for decreasing numbers and are in direct violation of California Fish and Game Code.

On the behest of the people of California, I ask you to intervene to protect the State’s natural resources by stopping CDFG’s policy of evicting burrowing owls, a California species of special concern, and hold the CDFG management accountable for suppressing an agency report designed to protect a declining California burrowing owl population.

Sincerely,

Scott W. Artis

[This letter was sent to CA Attorney General Brown and copied to Governor Schwarzenegger, Asst. to AG Brown, and CDFG Director McCamman.  The letter was accompanied by the Kiper Homes Blue Ridge eviction plan approved by the CDFG, the 2003 recommendation to list under the CESA, and the 2008 report for burrowing owl conservation.]

It has been 6 days since I have seen a burrowing owl on the Blue Ridge development site in Antioch, CA.  With observations spanning well over a year now, these 6 days are the only ones in which a sighting did not occur.  I can honestly say it was akin to watching an extinction unfold in fast-forward as the resident owls disappeared pair by pair and individual by individual in a mere 4 weeks.  Just prior to the onset of a weeklong storm that is now darkening the skies of the S.F. Bay Area, the last occupied burrow that I know of was systematically fitted with a one-way eviction door.   The burrowing owl pair and the home that sheltered their 6 offspring in June 2009 is nothing more than an impression in the dirt just above the retaining wall that foretold the future… and had now become the present.

As I sat in front of the monitor writing this update, I was overcome with the need to walk the property’s perimeter in the hope that burrowing owl evidence would be found.  I scanned the landscape that was now eerily owl free.  Some meadow larks darted from the ground to the retaining wall as I clutched the links of the fence.  Nothing.  I rounded the block and investigated the two remaining squirrel burrows that have been flagged for closure.  Perhaps fleeing owls would utilize these available squirrel dens for shelter from the rain.  They were in a state of disrepair and as far as owls, nothing.

I turned my back to look over the last section comprising the morning’s burrowing owl hunt and was greeted with a Shakespearian omen that was quite fitting considering the events that have unfolded.   Adjacent to once occupied burrows was a turkey vulture sitting idle amongst the sprouting grasses.  I squinted to see what had drawn the scavenger and braced myself for potentially finding a sequel to my first encounter with the remnants  of a dead owl in the waning days of summer.  And with a sigh of relief…nothing.

And so officially begins the quest to change California Department of Fish and Game’s (CDFG) eviction policies and save an owl from filling a slot on our state’s list of threatened and endangered species.  I will be posting additional information and my follow up letter to the Attorney General this week.

There are so many details that I’d like to share regarding the Blue Ridge development burrowing owls, but I must refrain from exposing much of the information in an effort to prevent undermining the cause.  In short, eviction doors continue to appear and have infiltrated one of the few remaining sections.   Just this morning I spotted an individual owl (part of a pair) crouching in a still viable burrow while the other 3 in their network  are now blocked with one-way doors.

As I stood in the middle of the street I exchanged glances with the wintering owl and tried to block the disturbing chatter of a handheld compression tool being fired up directly behind me.  And following the directions of the human operator, the jackhammer-like piece of equipment compacted the soil and collapsed what I believe were already cleared burrows.

I was also approached by a fellow neighbor who was looking for an update to the situation…and was longing for the establishment of some kind of park in which owls could thrive and residents  could enjoy.  As we traded contact information he inquired as to the possibility of residents banding together and purchasing some of the land.  But I fear that the process has already extended well beyond such a noble cause, would be hampered by a still struggling economy, and although is worthy of exploration is not something we could feasibly arrange in the little time these owls have left.

We have already begun a letter writing campaign to Director McCamman of the Department of Fish & Game, to our State Senators & Assembly Members, and to the Attorney General.  If you have not yet participated please visit Friends of East Bay Owls for sample letters and contact details.

But one obvious organization that should be contacted is Kiper Homes.  And with the help of WildCare Bay Area, an action alert was dispatched on January 12th to 8,000 members asking for their assistance.  It is an appeal to the developer directly to take responsibility for disturbing the habitat of these owls and purposely withdrawing discretionary approvals that would trigger a CEQA review and mitigation.  Just because they were able to perform a legal sidestep does not mean it is the right thing to do for a declining species or for the community in which they seek to profit.

So if you have already taken action by contacting state officials, please take one more moment to visit WildCare Bay Area and appeal to the developer to make an environmentally friendly decision.

Thanks WildCare Bay Area!

The Kiper Blue Ridge development that is uniting owl advocates across the Bay Area is still moving forward with evictions.  Uprooted owls scramble for new burrows as the ones they called home over the last year are slammed shut and ultimately sealed.  Now that trespassing signs have been posted, I stand watch from a nearby hillside as crews canvas the land I once walked marking the doomed burrows with flags, and collapsing those that are assumed to contain owls no more.  And I am left wondering just how many owls remain on the property, what duties the small tractors are performing at the behest of the developer, and why more chain link fencing is being erected.  Perhaps they dislike my observations of the owl’s wellbeing, shudder at the media’s coverage on the situation in print, on TV, and on the radio throughout California,  or believe the one-way eviction doors will be subject to tampering?

Most likely it is a combination of all, but had I wanted to stoop to levels of tampering it would have been done weeks ago.  I am most concerned with the safety of the owls and documenting the information as opposed to violating any laws that could potentially put the cause at risk.  But that can hardly be considered hardball considering the information I retrieved from the Planning Department yesterday.

Under threat of legal action calling for a supplemental review of the EIR/CEQA documents, the developer has withdrawn applications for new and discretionary permits last week.  That amounts to a sneaky way of avoiding any mitigation for the burrowing owls that have or had been inhabiting the stalled development.  Thus, instead of moving forward with the new master plan and plot plans for the 127 home neighborhood, Kiper will utilize the use permits that were originally approved by the City of Antioch and effectively build the homes that the original owner, Shea, intended.  This move is designed to sidestep the need for new permits and avoid triggering a review of the EIR/CEQA documents…as well as any mitigation for burrowing owls.

So the chess match continues!

About 40 owl lovers gathered Sunday afternoon near partially developed land in Antioch to protest the eviction of burrowing owls.

 

Friends of East Bay Owls and other supporters donned owl masks and waved “Give a Hoot, Not the Boot” signs as motorists honked or pulled over to inquire.

Contra Costa Times, Jan. 4, 2010

Although the gathering has since dispersed, I continue to receive outpourings of concern and offers of assistance.  Our network of ‘Owl Friends’ continues to work behind the media scenes while telephone calls and emails have begun to filter in as everyday residents (like us) have been alerted to the plight of Bay Area burrowing owls, the hard to miss evidence of overdevelopment and Department of Fish & Game’s eviction procedures that operate by assumption.  An assumption that clearly needs to be investigated as the population of burrowing owls has witnessed a 50 percent decline in the Bay Area over the last 10 to 15 years (The Institute for Bird Populations).

Here are a few accounts of Sunday’s protest:

Contra Costa Times: East Bay owl advocates protest birds relocation

NBC Bay Area: Speaking Up for the Owls

CBS 13: Fight To Save Burrowing Owls In Contra Costa Co.

CBS KPIX 5 (news broadcast)

Photos of the event

Perhaps the news report, the newspaper articles, or the word of the impending protest has ruffled some feathers so to speak.  Yet I am perfectly at one with the newly posted NO TRESPASSING signs going up…except for the fact that I will no longer be able to report on the actions from behind the chain-linked fence, check  on the safety of the owls, or monitor their behavior during the eviction procedure.  But, it is something I have been asking for since the beginning of 2009 as I watched untold people upset nesting owls, drive over burrows while off-roading, illegally dump garbage in the streets, and use the darkened corners as havens for drug use and dealing.

So with a glass half full approach I deem this a bittersweet victory as far as the integrity of the neighborhood is concerned, but 95% of the activity had been curtailed when the gates were installed in the waning days of September 2009.  Yet, I am wondering what this means legally since I was directly informed by the developer that the streets, maintenance, and cleanup had been handed over to the city of Antioch.  Since the city and our tax dollars are caring for the streets does that mean they are legally open to the public?  Just curious as I do value the protection they provide…a thanks I did pass along to the city and Kiper Homes after installation…just 5 months after initially requesting them.