Pickerel Frog

Upon arrival we were immediately greeted by the calls of spring peepers, a few upland chorus frogs and the trilling calls a couple of American toads.   A brief walk to the old spring house revealed several pickerel frogs emerging from their long winter’s sleep along with a few juvenile spring salamanders hiding beneath an old plank on the bottom of the spring house.   At the nearby farm pond the student s were able to listen to the “snoring” of a pickerel frog, no doubt warming up his vocal chords for the warm night ahead.

Spotting Spotted Salamanders and Wood Frogs

Spotted Salamander

Deeper in the same pool the students also found what appeared to be cottony snowball -like masses attached to sticks along with some smaller clear jelly-like masses.  They were the eggs of the Spotted and Jefferson salamanders. These large and lunged salamanders are vernal pool obligates, that need a fish free area in which to lay their eggs.  I informed students that since it took longer for their eggs to hatch, they laid them in the deeper parts of the pool so they could remain covered with water until hatching several weeks from now.

Marbled Salamander Tadpole

Amphibian Ambassadors

Unfortunately for the students, time was running short, so we had to head back to school.  In all we identified nine amphibian species, five of which we saw and four of which we heard.  My students were thrilled with the trip, with many asking to could go again.  I felt like a winner, but I realized the real winners were the amphibians.  They just gained 40 new ambassadors to their cause.  Heading off to bed that night I thought about the day’s events and hoped I wouldn’t sound too much like the Pickerel frog as I drifted off to sleep.

Learn more about how you can celebrate EXTRA-ordinary species in your community and across the country during this year’s National Wildlife Week, March 19-25 >>

Arboreal Salamander, via Bill Bouton/Flickr

In all of your accidental or not-so-accidental  salamander sightings, have you ever seen two that were identical?

With more than 500 species across the world that span the colors of the rainbow with speckles, spots, stripes, and some that can even morph colors, each one is pretty unique. Despite their endless multicolored diversity,  they all have (at least) two things in common: 1) tails and 2) just like us, they need water to survive.

While many species of salamander can drop off parts of their body to escape danger and regenerate them later (seriously, how cool is that?), there’s no escaping polluted water. For the last year, however, members of Congress have been doing their darnedest to take the bite out of our strongest water safeguards, the ones that protect our water as it travels from the mountain top to the creek near your house, where you spot the salamanders scuttling.

Here are just two examples of Congress’s attacks on salamanders and our water:

Mountaintop Removal Pollution

Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive method of extracting coal that has had far-reaching environmental effects in a region of incredible biodiversity; it has already buried and polluted more than 2,000 miles of streams. According to the Environmental Protection Agency:

“The impact of mountaintop removal on nearby communities is devastating. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others…the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.”

If it continues unabated, by the end of the decade it will cause a projected loss of more than 1.4 million acres of habitat that is home to fish and freshwater wildlife such as salamanders, bird species, and people.

Fire Salamander via Strocchi/Flickr

Despite the clear threat to water and wildlife, efforts in Congress are underway to block EPA oversight of mountaintop removal. This would shield the coal mining operations from EPA review of proposed mining permits, most of which don’t require assessment of potential impacts on endangered or threatened species.

By preventing the EPA from conducting permit reviews based on the best science for our own ecological safety, Congress is accelerating the destruction of Appalachia’s lands and waters and endangering the unique and extraordinary biodiversity of the region, from flying squirrels and peregrine falcons to cougars and salamanders.

Thwarting Protection Against the ‘Unacceptable’

The Clean Water Act (CWA) has faced its very own deluge of attacks this year, but this one in particular would strip the EPA of its ‘Veto Authority’ under section 404(c) of the CWA to prohibit or restrict certain pollution discharges that would have an “unacceptable adverse effect” on our water, fish or wildlife. EPA has used this authority sparingly – only 13 times since the law was enacted in 1972. It is reserved for truly bad projects where the discharger cannot or will not curtail the impacts on our water resources.

This attack would force EPA to ignore the scientific evidence of the harms caused by destructive dumping proposals. The EPA’s 2011 veto of the Spruce Mine permit, one of the largest mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachia, encouraged this amendment, but it would prevent the agency from blocking any project, not just mining, which would have unacceptable environmental impacts.

Sounds unacceptably dangerous to me.

Speak Up for Salamanders

Help protect salamanders and other wildlife by urging Congress to support programs that mitigate the consequences of water pollution on wildlife. Stop these sneaky attacks before our rainbow of salamanders vanishes for good.

Wildlife in the Crossfire – About this Series

This four-part blog series highlights wildlife caught in the crossfire of the federal budget battle raging in Congress and gives you the tools to fight back. Congress is in recess and members are back in their home districts. Now is the time to stand up for wildlife.

Fact: America’s investment in wildlife is not to blame for the budget problems we face today. Over the past 30 years, America’s investment in parks, wildlife, clean water and clean air has fallen from 1.7% to 0.6% of federal spending.