A stand of
eucalyptus trees used as nesting habitat by egrets and herons along the
Petaluma River was felled Sunday night, worrying birders and environmentalists
about the birds’ future.
The work,
planned for several years, is part of a Caltrans project to reconstruct the
Highway 101-Petaluma Boulevard South interchange and widen the highway along
that stretch.
David Keller
of the Petaluma River Council snapped photos of construction crews working
under floodlights Sunday evening, cutting down the 50- to 80-foot trees across
from Shollenberger Park.
He found it
suspicious that construction crews would conduct the dangerous work at night.
Safety was
indeed an issue, said James Cameron, a deputy director at the Sonoma County
Transportation Authority, which coordinates local transportation projects.
“I can’t blame
them for that perception,” he said. “We did expect to have a lot of people
looking at these trees. If we were to have bunches of people pull over on that
off-ramp off Highway 101, it could be a safety issue” for drivers.
Bird lovers
from several local Audubon Societies met multiple times with Caltrans during
the planning process for the interchange project. Environmental documents were
finalized in 2009.
Cameron said
there were eight active egret and heron nests last year in the rookery. The
previous two years, the presence of a red-tailed hawk forced the birds to nest
elsewhere.
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