Click a box for event info Clickable Timeline
2018 Loyalsock Creek wins PA River of the Year, hellbender is symbol of celebration
April 2019 US Fish and Wildlife Service ruled the hellbender did not need federal protection
Oct. 2019 Gov. Wolf signs bill naming hellbender as state amphibian of PA
March 2021 5 groups, including MSRKA file lawsuit against USFWS over 2019 lack of protection
There is a huge amount of therapy for me, at least, on super stressful days – when it feels like the whole world is falling apart and the sky is falling with work proj - ects and other major situations – to lay down in bed at night and zero for action Time
that these sections of hellbender habitat utopia are nearly gone and the few remaining face threats both upstream and down. At the top of these pages is a timeline of dates related to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) decision to not grant the hellbender a threatened or endanged listing federally in 2019. Around that same time, we were celebrating the Loyalsock Creek and the hellbender itself (naming it our state amphibian) here in PA. None of that really mattered when a few years later a coffer dam failed and sediment buried pristine hellbender habitat – one of numerous issues facing the species we’ll discuss in the coming pages. Our association joined several others in pushing the USFWS to have to relook at its 2019 decision and this past fall, a federal judge agreed. Later this year, the agency is expected to share new information and update its decision. Interestingly, Pennsylvania, in 2025, will be re - leasing its 10-year update of the Statewide Wildlife Action Plan, which will include the status of the hell - bender, currently only a species of special concern (which does not trigger any real protections when stream work is done near known hellbender habi - tat). However, when a group files for a NPDES (Na - tional Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit for earth disturbance related to any water - way, applicants must provide proof of consultation with the PA Natural Heritage Program regarding presence of any state or federally threatened or endangered species. If authorities determine that the proposed earth disturbance activity may adversely impact the species or critical habitat, it could require a change in construction plans or some other remediation to protect the species. I personally don’t know the exact science for deciding whether a species should be listed, and I don’t know the hellbender’s status beyond the Susquehanna watershed. However, I do know that we have some of the world’s best authorities on this species right here in our watershed. So, I interviewed Petokas again this summer for a fresh update on the status of the hellbender. And then I checked in with Matt Kaunert, the newish director of Lycoming College’s Clean Water Insti -
Riverkeeper John Zaktansky
in my thoughts and prayers of thankfulness on a smaller scope of what is going right at home. That even when all else is spiraling out of con - trol, at least my immediate family and things within my two-acre corner of the world are OK, safe and secure. I had that feeling, briefly, for the Eastern hell - bender as I helped Dr. Peter Petokas this past July. He and a student had collected a number of healthy hellbenders from a stretch of stream in our watershed and were collecting data – weights and other measurements, samples for fungal testing, observations on how they are doing. Eventually, each hellbender was placed carefully back at the exact spot it was collected. The work wasn’t hard but it was meticulous, tiring and yet refreshing. Petokas pointed out that this was one of the best stretches of hellbender habitat possibly in the country. Hellbender numbers have drastically declined across the country – Petokas estimates that 95 per - cent of their populations have been lost in our wa - tershed alone. Yet, at that very moment for those specific hellbenders, life was good. They could take a breath (through their lasagna-like skin flaps), feast on crayfish and be thankful. I could relate with that zeroed-in moment of peacefulness. However, that feeling doesn’t last and we can’t use that sense of security to ignore the bigger-pic - ture need for species protection. The reality is
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