CHARLESTON, W.Va.— Following 13 years of advocacy by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect the West Virginia spring salamander as endangered. The Service also proposed designating 2.2 miles of caves and streams in Greenbrier County as critical habitat for the endangered salamander.

The salamander lives in only one cave and stream system in Greenbrier County, and fewer than 300 of the animals remain.

“I’m thrilled that these critically imperiled salamanders are getting the protections they urgently need,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center. “These unique Appalachian salamanders have been around for millennia, but now the single cave and stream where they survive is imperiled by increasingly severe flood events that threaten both salamanders and human communities.”

West Virginia spring salamanders have exceptionally large gray bodies with pale spots. They are one of the few cave salamanders to undergo complete metamorphosis from an aquatic larvae to a land-dwelling adult. After metamorphosis, adults are completely blind, yet they can feed on insects and other invertebrates in the stream flowing through their cave.

Logging and sedimentation threaten the health of their only stream. Logging causes sediment and runoff to clog the stream, which could make it uninhabitable for the salamander. The Service’s proposed critical habitat will help ensure that the salamander’s cave, stream and surrounding forested habitat are protected.

The Center petitioned in 2010 to list the West Virginia spring salamander under the Endangered Species Act. Their populations, already reduced by overcollection in the past, have continued to decline in the past decade. In addition to major flood events, logging and stream pollution, climate change, agricultural pesticide runoff and poaching also threaten the salamander’s survival.

West Virginia’s rivers and streams are global hotspots for salamander biodiversity. The state is home to at least 34 species of salamanders, and the Appalachian Mountains contain more salamander species than anywhere else in the world.

“Safeguarding West Virginia spring salamanders will also help protect drinking water for West Virginians, along with some of the most important aquatic diversity on the planet,” said Harlan. “By protecting this salamander, we’re protecting ourselves too.”