Researchers looking to save Ozarks salamanders

GAINESVILLE, Mo. -- Standing on wobbly stones along the North Fork River in Ozark County, Ben Wheeler holds his fingers a few inches apart, a gap big enough to fit one Ozark hellbender, a tiny, young salamander he's hoping to find.

"The ones this big, no one has a clue where they go," said Wheeler, a 29-year-old doctoral student at Arkansas State University.

Years ago, hundreds of Ozark hellbenders could be found in every mile of the North Fork River. But now, the salamanders are on Missouri conservation department's endangered species list.

In March, the Missouri Department of Conservation declared the hellbender an endangered species in the state.

While the adults are disappearing as well, the lack of salamanders below age 2 is the cause for alarm for Wheeler and other biologists.

Scientists say the increase in population and land development in the Ozarks have polluted the river habitat of the hellbenders. They consider the hellbender a harbinger for humans because the same pollution that is bad for the salamanders is also bad for humans.

Members of the Hellbender Workshop Group plan to meet in Georgia next month to discuss what they think has caused the hellbenders to go from abundant to nearly absent.

Ron Goellner, director of animal collections and general curator at St. Louis Zoo, says the salamanders were found throughout the Mark Twain National Forest in the 1970s.

"Any suitable rock had a hellbender under it," Goellner said. "Most streams seemed to have fantastic populations."

Yue-wern Huang, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri-Rolla, says there seems to be a reproductive disruption among the salamanders. However, Huang says he's unsure what is causing a disruption in the hellbender's endocrine system, which regulates hormones -- although his theories include pollution, pesticides and people as possible causes.

Whatever is causing the decline, Goellner says he hopes it can be reversed.

"Maybe it could be a very simple set of recommendations to turn it around," Goellner said. "I guess all we can be is optimistic."