| description:
|
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="font-size:12pt"><SPAN>The Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) sometimes referred to as “mud devil”, “devil dog” or “ground puppy” is the largest salamander in the United States with some reaching a weight of more than 2 pounds and extending an impressive length of 2 feet (average around 17 inches). Once common in the eastern United States, the species has faced population decline due to inadequate habitat and water quality degradation. The current distribution stretches from southwestern New York, westward to southern Indiana and Illinois, to a disjunct population in Missouri, and southward through the mid-atlantic states to north eastern Mississippi, northern Alabama, through western part of North Carolina and Virginia. Like many other amphibians, these fully-aquatic salamanders are vulnerable to environmental disturbance that impacts breeding. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="font-size:12pt"><SPAN>The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working to address recovery of the hellbender in three states: North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Priority watersheds have been identified in a 35-county range of the Upper Cumberland, the Lower Tennessee system, and the western watersheds of North Carolina. These priority counties are home to some of the last known existing hellbender populations in these systems.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV> |