Re: your June 27 article, "Coyotes blocked out, says resident":
On behalf of University Village Thousand Oaks retirement community, I would like to correct some misunderstanding regarding the wildlife corridors on our campus and our commitment to wildlife, including coyotes.
During the planning process, University Village worked closely with the Thousand Oaks senior environmental planner, Greg Smith, and the Department of Fish and Game to maintain multiple pathways for wildlife.
Contrary to local resident Mary Troness' concern, our community does not have a wrought iron fence that prevents wildlife travel. There is a significant gap in the fence on the western portion of the property, as well as a wildlife pass-through in another portion of the western fence. We also deliberately built a portion of the northern fence line as a split rail fence with wider gaps between the rails and under the fence to facilitate wildlife travel.
Throughout construction, our community focused on preserving the wildlife that surrounds and integrates with our campus, including spending more than $50,000 with wildlife biologists who monitored the old red-tailed hawk nest that used to sit high in a tree adjacent to the property.
On any given night, one can hear many coyotes on the property, and it is not uncommon to see one walking in the dedicated open space or streets inside our 65-acre campus.
I will make myself available to tour Troness around University Village so that she can see the fence design and hear and see the local coyotes on campus during the night. I would expect to also see myriad other wildlife on campus, including deer, hawks and even ducks (Star article "'Peabody Hotel West' at University Village" June 3, 2009). This should clear up the misunderstanding about our fence and illustrate the wildlife corridor that has been preserved.
-- Warren Spieker, Thousand Oaks
(The writer is vice president of University Village. -- Editor)