Sept. 2022 Coffer dam washes out on Loyalsock Creek, spewing sediment over habitat
Sept. 2023 Federal judge rules that USFWS must revisit its 2019 decision on species status
Oct. 2023 PA adds hellbender license plate to help Wild Resource Conservation Fund
late 2024 US Fish and Wildlife Service to provide updated ruling on hellbender status
2025 PA to update its 10-year Wildlife Action Plan, including hellbender status
tute who has a long history of hellbender work in western PA. I even sent some questions via email to Dr. Mizuki Takahashi of Bucknell University, who has studied giant salamanders in Japan to look at the world-view situation for hellbenders. Instead of weaving their comments into one long comprehensive story, I kept them separate, hoping to illustrate not only their notable differenc - es in approach to studying these animals but more importantly the similarities they have. The bottom line is that there is MUCH we don’t know about this secretive, noctural species despite its longstanding residence in our watershed. We are just starting to understand it and the pollutants that threaten it. It deserves a cushion of protection until we
better understand it, its unique reproductive habits and the cocktail of contaminants that threaten it ... at least in our Susquehanna watershed where we are down to a few dwindling pockets of ideal habitat that so easily could be wiped out if we aren’t very careful. More on that in the pages ahead. Right now, officials are fighting to reintroduce species in PA that
Help the hellbender Sign the petition
have been completely lost like the American Marten. Let’s not let the hellbender get so far gone that we need to fight 100 years from now to reintroduce it from scratch.
Riverkeeper John Zaktansky
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