Rare hellbender salamander in Western NC faces calamity from Helene's floods

YANCEY COUNTY — Just west of Burnsville, along the Cane River, Atley Cannon, 9, wades through the water covering the farm outside of his uncle's house. With a ball cap, camo pants and two BB guns on his waist, he scans the water that knocked the house off its foundation.

He reaches his hand into the shallow end of the mud up picking up a slimy, long semi-black salamander that wiggled its legs slowly in the early afternoon light.

His grandfather, John Young, shouted down at the boy from his red tractor: "A mud puppy! They're endangered. Don't hurt it!"

After instruction from his grandfather, Cannon walked the salamander back to the river, where it likely was living just days before. The family found at least three during their time clearing the water from their property along the river, Young said. Their story may be an omen for the future of the rare southern Appalachian species.

Colloquially known as "mud puppies," "snot otters," and "devil dogs," the rare eastern hellbender is just one of three giant salamander species in the world. The salamander is known for living among the large, flat river rocks of Western North Carolina — and the broader southern Appalachian region — and can grow up to two feet, making it the largest North American amphibian.

Just as the floods washed away homes, businesses, baseball fields and Asheville's River Arts District, they also took the critters with them. By all accounts, the flooding may have worsened their conditions, said Lori Williams, a biologist and hellbender expert with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The commission has received reports of individuals finding up to 15 hellbenders at one time. Some are dead, others alive.

"Initial reports are that hellbenders appear to have taken a major hit across multiple counties and watersheds. People are reporting finding them hundreds of feet away from rivers, stuck in mud ditches, piles of storm debris, and washed out in open fields," Williams said.

North Carolina designates the species as of "special concern," meaning the state government requires their protection and conservation. However, eastern hellbenders — whose habitats require clean, cold water and a river bed of large rocks — are not yet considered "endangered" by the federal government. But, recent legal battles have sought to give the designation to the animal.

In 2021, several riverkeeper and waterkeeper organizations sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not considering hellbenders for Endangered Species Act protections. In September 2023, a federal judge agreed with the groups, ordering the service to re-do it's designation around the species.

'Low chance' that hellbenders survived in certain areas

MountainTrue's Watauga County Riverkeeper Andy Hill said he's finding more of the hellbenders washed up out of their environment — some dead and some alive — after the flood. As a riverkeeper, Hill monitors and protects Watauga County's waterways, streams and rivers.

More than likely, many of the environments where the hellbenders nested may now be unlivable.

"Their habitat is going to be heavily impacted by this sediment runoff," Hill said.

For the Swannanoa River, where hellbender populations were already "barely hanging on," Williams said there is a "low chance" that any are left. The Swannanoa River peaked at 26 feet — it regularly sits around a foot and a half.

Already, at least one area of identified nests in WNC — which was to soon see repairs and stabilization — was deemed as "gone" due to the floods.

"We are aware of a stream in Ashe County that had confirmed nests and hellbender rocks that were to get a restoration and bank stabilization project any week now. We were going to go rescue and relocate the hellbenders prior. Now, it's all gone," Williams said. "The rocks, the nest, the habitat, the stream channel that needed stabilization and now needs something much, much more to help it."

A new population assessment on the creatures is anticipated to take "quite a while" as the floods caught the species in the middle of the breeding period.

"We anticipate habitat damage and destruction in most watersheds meaning loss and displacement of shelter rocks, nest rocks, and nests themselves which would have had eggs soon to hatch this time of year," Williams said.

Hill said the environments in certain rivers may return before too long. However, the environmental practices that might "help that process along" will require more thought.

"A hopeful note for these hellbenders and these ecosystems: While we are worried about them, we know that the rivers are resilient and timeless," Hill said.

"The rivers will come back. It just might be a long process."

What to do if you find an Eastern Hellbender?

If you find a hellbender displaced by floodwaters, Williams and Hill recommend you do the following:

• Note the physical location or GPS coordinates.
• Note the date.
• Take a photo.
• Send information to Lori Williams at lori-williams@ncwildlife.org.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Rare hellbender salamander in Western NC faces calamity from Helene's floods