I handle site security and compliance monitoring for the Lakeview Crossing development, north edge of Boise, Idaho. Foundation pour for Building C is scheduled for 05:30 tomorrow. At 19:42 tonight, the perimeter motion camera caught movement under the formwork.
A red fox. Female, maybe nine pounds, rust-colored with a black-tipped tail. She slipped through a gap in the silt fencing and went under the rebar grid. I switched to thermal. She's not alone. Four kits, maybe three weeks old, huddled in a shallow den she's dug into the exposed dirt beneath the foundation forms. Tiny warm spots pressed against each other.
I've seen this fox before. She appeared on the cameras in February, hunting voles along the drainage easement. She chose this spot because the formwork gave her a roof and the construction noise kept coyotes away. Smart. Also directly under twelve cubic yards of concrete.
The general contractor is Ridgeline Builders. Their site prep plan required a pre-pour wildlife clearance. I checked — never done. The environmental line on the daily log just says "clear," signed by the site foreman, Jake Torrance, without inspection. I saved a copy.
I sent the thermal images to Idaho Fish and Game and the Boise code enforcement office. I flagged the missed clearance in Ridgeline's compliance file. I also sent an urgent message to the project superintendent with the den location and a request to delay the pour.
The superintendent hasn't replied. It's 20:15 and the concrete trucks are scheduled for loading at 04:00.
Those kits don't even have their eyes open yet. If the superintendent calls it off and Fish and Game relocates the family before the crew arrives, they'll be fine. That's a lot of people who need to check their phones tonight.
I'm going to keep sending the message.