High Country Times

Slithering through the rocky streams and rivers of the eastern United States, hellbenders are a rare species of giant salamanders. Dr. Michael Gangloff, a professor at Appalachian State University’s Department of Biology, has been studying these amphibians for nearly 20 years. Recently, his lab helped relocate the salamanders from the removed Shull’s Mill Dam on the Watauga River to a new habitat downstream.

“Our goal was to move the hellbenders out of harm’s way before the dam was removed,” said Gangloff. The effort aimed to see if they could establish populations in their new environment.

The dam removal was led by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission with assistance from App State and the Watauga Riverkeeper. It aimed to improve biodiversity and water quality along with reducing flooding on the Watauga River.

Hellbenders are one of the largest salamander species globally and are found in many running waters near Boone and throughout Watauga County. Despite their size, they are not easy to spot due to their ability to blend into their surroundings.

“It took us three days and a night survey to find and move eight hellbenders before they started deconstructing the dam,” explained Gangloff. His team included scuba divers like App State graduate student Hutch Whitman who described it as an “adrenaline rush.”

Gangloff highlighted that population estimates can be uncertain because these animals inhabit hard-to-reach areas. When captured, hellbenders are examined for deformities, weighed, measured, tagged, and monitored periodically.

Gangloff noted successful reproduction in parts of the upper Watauga River but mentioned that juveniles have short lifespans compared to adults which can take decades to mature fully.

Elijah Thompson ’21 works alongside Gangloff managing vertebrate collections at App State’s Aquatic Conservation Research Lab. “Relocating these hellbenders gives us a chance to reintroduce populations throughout the river system,” said Thompson.

She emphasized that reconnecting waterways could provide imperiled species with a fresh start while improving river ecosystems’ health by increasing connectivity and habitat conditions.

Thompson further added about ongoing monitoring efforts: “We’ve already started finding hellbenders again since being released in their new section.” She stressed urbanization impacts water quality affecting aquatic life like hellbenders adversely over recent decades around Boone city limits among others nearby regions too impacted similarly due largely part human activities driving sediment pollution runoff issues across landscape scale changes within watersheds generally observed happening now across wider regional scales beyond local area boundaries alone also observed broadly elsewhere nationwide increasingly occurring simultaneously according growing concerns regarding broader environmental implications arising from such trends continuing unabatedly potentially posing long-term risks threatening sustainability future generations reliant upon maintaining ecological balance preserving biodiversity intact overall basis going forward indefinitely speaking terms perspective 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“Hellbender populations should likely improve with better river connectivity," concluded Gangloff.

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