CHARLESTON, W.Va.— The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for failing to decide whether to protect the yellow-spotted woodland salamander under the Endangered Species Act. Only a few hundred of the salamanders remain.

“These are some of the most imperiled salamanders on the planet and they can’t wait any longer for protections,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center. “Without federal action these salamanders will go extinct on our watch.”

Yellow-spotted woodland salamanders are found in shale and sandstone rock faces in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The same sites are targeted by mountaintop removal mining, which uses explosives that blast apart mountains to access coal seams. More than 500 mountains and 1.4 million acres of forest in Appalachia have been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining over the past 40 years.

The Center and 10 partner organizations petitioned the agency in August 2022 to protect yellow-spotted woodland salamanders, who live in only a few remaining rock cliffs in central Appalachia.

In January 2024 the Service issued a finding that the yellow-spotted woodland salamander may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. That finding was supposed to launch a formal status assessment to guide its final decision within 12 months of receiving the petition, but two years have passed without a decision.

Three yellow-spotted woodland salamander populations have already been wiped out by mining and road construction in the past decade. Many others have likely been obliterated by mountaintop removal mining. Most remaining salamander populations consist of only one or a few individuals.

These slender, purplish-brown salamanders are distinguished by two rows of yellow spots along their back. Two genetic studies in 2018 and 2019 confirmed that yellow-spotted woodland salamanders are a distinct species.

Protection as an endangered species would ensure that yellow-spotted woodland salamanders and their remaining habitat are safeguarded. It would also require a federal recovery plan to restore their populations.

Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Appalachian Voices, Citizens Coal Council, The Clinch Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch, Dogwood Alliance, Forest Keeper, Heartwood, Kentucky Heartwood and Kentucky Waterways Alliance joined the Center in petitioning to list the species.

Appalachia is a global biodiversity hotspot for salamanders, with more salamander species than anywhere else in the world. Today 60% of salamander species are threatened with extinction.