PINEVILLE, W.Va.— The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wyoming East High School Friends of the Earth will host a community event on June 23 to celebrate a new mural of the Guyandotte River crayfish, a species found only in Wyoming County, West Virginia.

The painting will be the latest installment of the Center’s endangered species mural project, which highlights the imperiled plants and animals that make the places we live wild and interesting.

Students from the Wyoming East Friends of the Earth Club, led by Brittany Bauer, will help paint the mural. The building space for the mural was offered by Trails Lodging, courtesy of Christina Schofield and Ginger Belcher.

Who: The celebration will feature Appalachian folklorist Jordan Lovejoy, artist Roger Peet, who coordinates the Center’s mural project, students from Zac Loughman’s crayfish biology lab at West Liberty University and Center scientist Tierra Curry.

What: Endangered species community mural celebration with refreshments.

Donations of bottled water for residents along Indian Creek whose drinking water is currently unusable because of mining contamination will be accepted at the event to be distributed by the Wyoming County Extension Office of West Virginia University in Pineville.

Where: 27 River Drive Avenue, Pineville, WV 24874

When: Sunday, June 23, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Painting daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning on June 18; artist available for interviews on site.

“Our goal with each mural is to connect people with the unique wildlife that surround us,” said endangered species mural project coordinator Roger Peet. “Crayfish are important members of freshwater communities, and they are just very cool animals so it’s wonderful to be able to spotlight the Guyandotte River crayfish, which is found only here.”

“The Guyandotte River crayfish emphasizes how the health of the river is directly tied to the health of our community. Storytelling and expressive culture can further reveal these human-environment connections, and they also help us find ways to work together for the sake of our shared places. In bringing science, art and storytelling together, this mural is a visual reminder that caring for our own health also means caring for the health and environment of others," said Jordan Lovejoy, a folklorist from Pineville who is now assistant director of southern futures at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center for the Study of the American South.

“This crayfish mural has been in the works since 2019 when local river guardian Dvon Duncan was leading the effort, so we’re so excited to celebrate the Guyandotte River and its wildlife and to honor Dvon’s legacy,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center.

The Center’s endangered species mural project has now installed dozens of murals across North America. Among these are murals of Indiana bats in Cincinnati, Ohio, freshwater mussels in Knoxville, Tennessee, and white fringeless orchids in Berea, Kentucky.

The project is led by Peet, an artist based in Portland, Oregon, who teams up with local artists and community groups to bring endangered species art to public spaces to increase appreciation for regional biodiversity. The project aims to celebrate local endangered species and encourage people to make connections between conservation and community strength.

Species Background

The Guyandotte River crayfish were once found in creeks feeding into the Guyandotte River in seven counties in West Virginia, but they now survive only in Wyoming County. The crayfish are threatened by activities that cause runoff to enter streams and fill in the spaces they need under rocks on the river bottom.

The Guyandotte River crayfish was discovered as a species just 10 years ago when scientists studying the populations in West Virginia found that they are distinct from the wider-ranging Big Sandy crayfish, which they were classified as until 2014.

Crayfish are also known as crawdads, crawfish, mudbugs, craycraws, and other regional names. Crayfish keep streams cleaner by eating decaying plants and animals. They are eaten, in turn, by fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, making them an important link in the food web. Individual crayfish may live up to 10 years.