Save the Pond, Save the Toad!
Imagine having a nature park instead of another housing development. !
A sixteen-home subdivision is far along in the planning process and will be located in Poway’s Van Dam Peak Biological Core and Linkage Area (BCLA). The parcel to be developed includes a seasonal wetland with a seasonal pond that acts as a vernal pool. The entire parcel helps to sustain many threatened and endangered species in the Meadowbrook Reserve area.
Location of Project (red outline)
Preserve Wild Poway believes that this parcel could be and should be preserved. Just envision the possibility of having a Meadowbrook Nature Park within a short walk from the Meadowbrook Middle school, offering a living biology lab for the students as well as other Poway residents to study and learn about our sensitive native habitats. It is one of the last flatter areas of open space, easily accessible to all, including the disabled.
This is the time to come together and convince the landowner and the City of Poway to secure this property as a park.
In late 2023, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the CDFW (California Department of Fish and Wildlife) were in discussion with the landowner, who indicated that he may consider selling the property.
The CDFW has stated that there are likely funds available to acquire sensitive habitat.
The landowner is now confronted with the issue of another listed species (Western Spadefoot Toad). He will have to mitigate or protect the breeding pond which is in the center of the project.
Preserving the entire parcel by purchasing and annexing it to the Meadowbrook Ecological Reserve is the most sensible solution both for the landowner and the health of the reserve.
The reasons this parcel should be preserved are almost too many to list, but here are a few highlights:
The property is an important part of the Meadowbrook Ecological Reserve, joining the reserve habitat on multiple edges and the Carmel Mountain open space park on the north edge. Its location and development plan will cause a ridiculous amount of edge effects directly in the BCLA.
The project will destroy a seasonal toad pond that is known to produce hundreds of the recently listed Western Spadefoot toad, tree frogs, and endangered fairy shrimp.
The parcel is loaded with Spiny Redberry and California Buckwheat, making it a prime habitat for the threatened Hermes Copper butterfly. Eighteen of twenty two Hermes Copper butterflies found in the area were found on this very parcel in a 2003 survey.
The Parcel makes up a large seasonal watershed which enhances the BCLA. This presents a rare opportunity to save this critical biological component of the Van Dam Peak BCLA.
The parcel and the toad pond could make a wonderful viewing park and educational resource for locals, visitors, and the children attending the nearby schools.
Finally, 90 – 95% of the vernal/seasonal ponds have already disappeared, and the ones that are left are critical to the survival of plants and animals who call Van Dam Peak their home.
You can help by speaking up!
Who to contact:
Melanie Burlaza, CDFW, melanie.burlaza@wildlife.ca.gov
Mary Beth Woulfe, USFWS, Marybeth_Woulfe@fws.gov
Jennifer Norris, Executive Director WCB, Jennifer.Norris@wildlife.ca.gov
Chris Hazeltine, Poway City Manager, CHaseltine@poway.org
Brian Pepin, Poway Dist. 1 Councilman, BPepin@poway.org
Steve Vaus, Poway Mayor, SVaus@poway.org