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VT Press: She's a salamander savior

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<u>TIMES ARGUS</u> (Barre-Montpelier, Vermont) 21 April 06 She's a salamander savior (Kelly Sullivan)
Middlesex: If you're driving Vermont backroads on a wet night anytime soon, chances are that some of the sticks you're avoiding might actually be slow-moving critters – eastern spotted salamanders, to be precise. Each spring, these amphibians migrate from woodlands to vernal pools to lay their eggs in these small temporary ponds that dry out in the summer. But given their small size and their slow gait, crossing backcountry roads is hazardous and sometimes fatal.
Katie Feldman, a high school senior from Middlesex who has organized groups of people to help the salamanders cross roads, says that this year, instead of one mass migration, eastern spotted salamanders have been making several, smaller-scale journeys.
"There's already been a few small migrations," she said in a recent interview. Unfortunately, small migrations make the job of benevolent human helpers all the more difficult.
Feldman, who said she started working on saving salamanders from becoming road kill eight or 10 years ago, has more recently been organizing people in Middlesex as well as other central Vermont towns to go out, en masse, and help the spotted salamanders cross by literally picking them up and carrying them to the other side of the road.It's a lot of work for one person. Fortunately, Feldman reports that she has plenty of help.
"People in quite a few towns have contacted me this year," she said, and part of the increased interest may be because of her Web site, www.savethesalamanders.org, which she started up and designed and built herself about a year ago.
"A few nights ago, we crossed about 50 salamanders," Feldman reported, but said it's difficult to track exactly how many of the amphibians volunteers spot each night.
"It's really hard because we have different people going out at different times in different places," she said. Though Feldman says there are a few other salamanders with similar migrating patterns, the eastern spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, or the "Ambie," is the most notable.
On her Web site, she writes that the "Ambie" is "glossy black with a double row of brilliant yellow spots down its back" and that can live up to 20 years and grow up to 11 inches long. The spotted salamander's size and the slow way in which it crosses the road makes it look especially like a stick lying in the road, explained Feldman, and this contributes to the high mortality rate the amphibians face each spring.
"My father and I especially have always been interested in … amphibians," explained Feldman, who is home-schooled half the time and attends classes at U-32 for some subjects. One spring, about 10 years ago, Bob Klein of Middlesex told Feldman and her dad about the spotted salamander migration and one night the two of them "wandered around, driving around" but didn't see any salamanders.
Later, they walked down the road instead.
"We discovered that they're very hard to recognize if you don't know what you're looking for," said Feldman, adding that if you don't recognize them, you run over them.
Her newest salamander project is an informational DVD about the salamander crossings, which she's filming with the aid of a small grant from the Vermont Department of Natural Resources.
These days, Feldman has more on her mind than just salamanders. She's been accepted into two colleges, she says, so has to make a choice between Wesleyan, in Connecticut, or Haverford, in Pennsylvania, in the next week or two. Either way, her studies will probably range beyond her interest in science – and salamanders.
"I have so many different interests," she said. "I'm actually very interested in writing, also. Eventually I hope to be able to combine my interest in writing and my interest in science."
For more information, visit www.savethesalamanders.org.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060421/NEWS/604210350/1002/EDUCATION05
 
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