Why the eastern hellbender salamander is at risk and how you can help save it

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the Eastern hellbender salamander as endangered.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting Energy & Environment Reporter Curtis Tate spoke with Than Hitt, senior scientist with the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, about the hellbender’s habitat in Appalachia and what threatens its population in the region.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tate: I read that sedimentation is one of the main threats to the hellbender. What are some others?

Hitt: I think you’re right to focus on sedimentation as a primary stressor. The literature is very clear about that, but there’s more. They’re facing more challenges. They’re facing challenges due to climate change. They’re facing challenges due to disease, and these things are complicated because they’re often interwoven.

For example, they require large, flat rocks for nesting, and also the juveniles require those features to survive. Sedimentation literally buries their home. But we also know that they stop feeding efficiently at high temperatures. So as temperatures warm past a threshold, roughly 70 degrees Fahrenheit, they stop feeding, and growth is impaired. That’s also a stressor.

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Droughts and floods can be extremely important. West Virginia has experienced extreme weather in the last year. We’ve seen both sides of it. We’ve seen extreme drought. We’ve seen extreme flooding. Both sides of that can be stressors and threats to hellbenders, because on the drought side, if we lose stream water, temperatures often can increase, and that can be stressful. And they can just lose habitat on the flood side, anything that’s going to flip large rocks or features in the stream can scour out their habitats, and that can be obviously lethal, especially for juveniles. Extreme weather from climate change is also very much a risk.

Tate: What about diseases?

Hitt: We also know that in some cases a Chytrid fungus can impair populations and can cause mortalities. And it’s interesting that those disease effects are often coupled with temperature. So as temperature goes up, other factors become more lethal. That’s an important piece of the puzzle, too. These things often interact. But yes, there are many stressors, but it starts with sedimentation. Effects of climate change, extreme weather and disease are really important.

Tate: Where is the sediment coming from?

Hitt: Any surface disturbance that moves sediment down slope can have those effects. Also, water quality can be important. They breathe through their skin as adults. They’re an extremely important indicator species. Hellbenders are very secretive creatures, but the science is very clear. They only live in cold, clean streams. That’s the only place you’ll find them. If you find hellbenders in a stream, you know that the ecosystem is intact, and we do see some disturbing trends.

We see that about 80% of their historic range has been lost across the 15 states where hellbenders currently persist, but keep in mind, they have been here for millions of years. It’s amazing. We’re looking at a living fossil, and if they can persist through all the change that millions of years has brought, it should give us pause that we see significant declines over recent decades due to land disturbance, movement of soils, climate change and disease.

Tate: Is there a way for folks to tell the Department of Natural Resources if they encounter one?

Hitt: The public has to be involved, and the public really is stepping up for this. It’s important. This is the largest salamander in North America. It’s amazing to see. People often are confused, like, what is this thing? Sometimes they’re misidentified as mud puppies and similar species, but they occupy more sort of slack water environments. They’re usually smaller. They have gills. It’s different looking, but somewhat similar.

Anglers sometimes will catch a hellbender by mistake. The best thing to do is clip that hook, safely remove the hook, release the animal, and then let DNR know, because they’re so secretive and elusive that having citizen scientists and anglers get involved in the surveying really does help understand their true status.

Wildlife recovery takes decades. Federal wildlife officials are updating 15 Tennessee species’ progress.

Tate: Assuming they are listed as endangered, what does it mean? What does it change?

Hitt: It means that there may be more motivation to fund conservation and to develop the programs and partnerships that are necessary to protect the species. It would involve understanding what habitats are critical and developing conservation plans for recovery. That’s the main thing that a listing would do. It would start a process of recovery, and that’s really what it’s all about.

Currently, the state of West Virginia does recognize the hellbender as a species of greatest conservation need in our state wildlife action plan. Other states have listed the hellbender as an endangered species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, recognizes the species as vulnerable. It’s definitely been recognized by other scientific authorities as in decline.

We’re not uncertain about the overall trend. We see evidence for the loss of many populations. Of the 630 or so known populations across the 15 states, the majority of those have been lost, or are thought to have been lost, and the majority of the remaining populations appear to be in decline. This is what we know from the best available data, the most recent scientific surveys. That’s troublesome.

This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKYU in Kentucky and NPR.