The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the Eastern hellbender as endangered under the Endangered Species Act/USGS

More than five years after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to propose endangered status for the Eastern hellbender, the agency is now proposing to list the giant salamander as such under the Endangered Species Act.

"The eastern hellbender needs help now more than ever,” said Tracy Davids, senior Southeast representative with Defenders of Wildlife. “We have worked with landowners and communities across the southern Appalachians to keep streams healthy and resilient. Hurricane Helene washed much of that work away, and now we need to establish a strong foothold if we stand a chance at recovering this species.”

Proponents of listing the hellbender, also known as “Allegheny Alligators” “snot otters” and “devil dogs" in West Virginia, say protection is particularly important now because the amphibian's habitat in western North Carolina and Tennessee were decimated earlier this year by Hurricane Helene.

"I literally burst into happy tears when I heard that hellbenders were finally going to get the Endangered Species Act protection they need to recover. Hellbenders may be cold and slimy, but they’re so fascinating that they evoke warm and fuzzy feelings,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Protecting these giant salamanders will give umbrella safeguards to thousands of other species that rely on clean rivers.”

Hellbenders can reach 2 feet in length. Back in 2011 the Ozark hellbender, which have been found in Ozark National Scenic Riverways, was designated an endangered species. And now conservation groups want the Eastern hellbender protected by the Endangered Species Act as well.

The amphibians rely on clean, oxygen-rich water for survival. Sedimentation from development, as well as poor land-use practices and pollution have dirtied the streams and rivers hellbenders call home, making them less habitable, according to Defenders.

Hurricane Helene brought unprecedented flooding to parts of the southern Appalachians, leaving the species and its habitat with an uncertain future.

Listing the eastern hellbender as endangered will give agencies and their conservation partners access to as many resources as possible in order to protect the species," said Ben Prater, director of Defenders’ Southeast Program. "While this listing status is critically important we are concerned that without designated critical habitat degradation and loss of habitat may continue putting local populations at continued risk."

When Fish and Wildlife in 2019 denied to list hellbenders as endangered, the agency based its decision in part on population augmentation efforts, such as the use of artificial nest boxes or release of juvenile hellbenders raised in captivity from wild-caught eggs. The ability of these efforts to rebuild populations is unproven, say the groups seeking ESA protection, and they do not help to address or diminish the many threats hellbenders face.

In 2021, when the Center for Biological Diversity announced it would sue Fish and Wildlife over the denied listing, the organization said nearly 80 percent of hellbender populations had already been lost or are in decline due to agricultural and industrial water pollution, habitat destruction, sedimentation, warming waters, dams and other impoundments, and climate change.

Hellbenders are primarily nocturnal and move by walking on stream bottoms, but can swim short distances to avoid predators. Hellbender lifespan is estimated to be at least 25-30 years and may be closer to 50. Historically, hellbenders would be found in clear, fast-flowing mountain streams in 15 Southeastern, Midwestern and Northeastern states. Throughout those 15 states, only 12 percent of populations are stable and successfully reproducing, according to the Center. The range of eastern hellbenders includes Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. 

In 2017, Defenders of Wildlife launched the Southeastern Hellbender Conservation Initiative, which puts biologists in direct contact to collaborate with landowners whose property is home to hellbenders and hosts community outreach events to educate the public on how to keep water clean for the species.

A 60-day comment period on the proposed listing started this past Friday.