A Call to Protect the Hellbender, Appalachia’s Largest Salamander

By Kayla Masterman

The Eastern hellbender, the largest aquatic salamander in North America, is eligible to receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. In December 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposal to classify the hellbender as endangered. This classification would increase protections for the species and require federal agencies to ensure conservation efforts.

At press time in July, the agency was reviewing public comments and had not specified a timeline for finalizing the rule.

The Eastern hellbender dwells in the flowing streams of Appalachia, from Southern New York to Northern Georgia. Adult hellbenders can weigh more than 3 pounds and live for at least 30 years. They typically have a grayish or reddish-brown coloration and a flattened body, short legs and paddle-like tails.

They help maintain ecosystem balance, according to Michael Gangloff, professor of freshwater conservation biology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

“They require clean water and stable, clean substrates, so they are an excellent indicator of water quality,” he says. “We know that if our rivers and streams have hellbenders, they are probably pretty healthy streams.”

According to the North Carolina Wildlife Rescue Commission, hellbenders disappear when waterways become overloaded with silt or chemicals. For hellbenders to survive, the water must be highly oxygenated. 

“One of their evolutionary adaptations to exist in fully aquatic environments as adults is that their skin allows them to breathe,” says Ridge Graham, North Carolina program manager for Appalachian Voices, the organization that produces this publication. 

He explains that the colder the water is, the more oxygen it can hold. 

“There are some places where it’s just getting warmer, and the oxygen potential is lost in the water,” Graham says.

“When there’s a federally listed endangered species, whenever there’s a big construction project like a dam or a pipeline or anything that impacts the water where the species is, it puts up a check on that development, and [the developer has] to prove that it won’t harm the species,” says Graham.

Many states have categorized the hellbender as a species that needs some level of protection. According to the Virginia Herpetological Society, hellbenders are classified as endangered at the state level in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio. They’re considered rare in Georgia and listed as a species of concern in New York, North Carolina and Virginia. In Missouri, they’re on the watch list, and in Tennessee, they’re considered in need of management.

Hannah Woodburn is the High Country watershed outreach coordinator with MountainTrue, a Western North Carolina environmental organization. She explains that hellbender populations have declined up to 70% in the last decade. 

Compounding effects are causing the species to decline, including high amounts of sedimentation in the streams, habitat loss, and changes in water quality and stream temperatures. Hellbender populations are also decreasing due to dams, water pollution from industry and farming, deforestation, oil and gas development, residential growth and mining.

The federal endangered listing would allow more funding for research and protection for the species, especially after Hurricane Helene, according to Woodburn. She explains that Andy Hill, High Country regional director and Watauga Riverkeeper at MountainTrue, was helping with search and rescue efforts after the storm and saw dozens of dead hellbenders.

Woodburn and her team have been out on the river a lot this spring and summer working on surveys.

“We have been encouraged to find older adults and some young that likely survived the storm,” Woodburn says. 

She adds that it will likely take a few field seasons to understand how hellbenders are recolonizing and how populations have changed since Helene. 

Woodburn explains that when trees and plants along the riverbank are lost, the temperature of the water rises and it is not able to hold as much oxygen. It is also easier for pollutants like large amounts of sediment to seep into the water, which affects the water quality. 

Maintaining river health for these creatures will, in turn, benefit humans inhabiting the area. 

“Theoretically, if we are protecting a species that needs clean water and habitat, then that should benefit us,” Gangloff says.  “It is such a unique and unusual animal, and the people who are lucky enough to see one in the wild, they never forget it.”