Cheat Mountain Salamander - Conservation

Conservation

Populations of the CMS probably plummeted when its original habitat (red spruce forests) was destroyed by logging in the early 20th Century. It is now on the U.S. Endangered Species List and it has been protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act since 1989. Any disturbance exposing the forest floor to sunlight changes the cool, moist conditions on which these animals depend for nest sites as well as food and respiration. Alterations as minor as clearing service roads or hiking or skiing trails can fragment and isolate populations since these salamanders do not cross bare surfaces. As populations become divided, gene pools decline as does the likelihood of viability. Such habitat alterations probably also favor the encroachment of mountain dusky and red-back salamanders which out-compete the CMS for food, cover and moisture.

Fortunately, much of the CMS’s range (46 of 60 known populations) falls within the Monongahela National Forest. A recovery plan was developed for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and annual surveys are conducted by Thomas Pauley (Marshall University), an authority on this species, and he indicates that its numbers appear to be stable except where habitats have been altered. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has also conducted population monitoring and surveys. Since both the salamander and its habitat are monitored and protected in the National Forest and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, its future looks hopeful.