How to stop construction?

[EasternNewtLove]

So the wood behind my house which used to have salamanders, and still have the rare few, have gone down in numbers drastically, since they ploed through and made a house. This company also plans on tearing down more of the forest to build more houses and a road that goes through to the road to the highway. I'm guessing any salamanders that survived, move further up the road since behing my neighbors house, the numbers are extremly high and the populations are pretty dense. There has been oil spilled back there and I can't stand it. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do about it? There is the most beautiful stream back there that drains from one pond, and leads to another. There is already an area that was deforrested. When I first went deep back there in the past month, I found it to be such an enchanting place. It was so serene and beautiful. It was just amazing. The stream has oil in it. And it just disgusts me that people can rip apart something so beautiful and not even care. The most sickening part though, is that my family sold the land. My aunt, my uncle, and my parents.

My main questions are:

1. What can I, a humble almost 16 year old (17 teen next month), do to stop this. My friends and I are already planning a protest when they try to begin.

2. What can I do to get rid of the oil if we are successful?

 

[Scorpion]

What kind of salamanders do you find back there? Maybe if you can prove that there are endangered species living there, they won't be able to build there. Or so I think I've heard somewhere. I'm not exactly sure.

 

[nwmnnaturalist]

The best thing you can do is start contacting local and state authorities, as well as conservation groups. I really do feel your pain. Areas around my home have been built on and it has dropped snake and toad populations by 80% in the area. I'm going to be blunt and say that it's a remote possibility of stopping it. But you really should make some noise. You should contact your local university extension. Local conservation groups could also help you out. If you can't stop it, you should at least try to work with the developers to preserve as much habitat as possible. You can even make it a citizen science project to monitor and assist with this. Sometimes you must compromise.

 

[EasternNewtLove]

Thanks for the suggestions we are going to be gathering friends and others to help us. We hope to gather information on endangered species back there. There has to be at least some. I know I saw either a hawk or falcon back there and i the falcon was a Perigrene, those are endangered in NH so that may help. The only endangered amphibian in NH is the marbled salamander and the ones have been seen here are right on the border of Massachusetts I believe. I'm not very close to there but there have been Plethodon Cinereus, Ambystoma Laterale, Ambystoma Maculatum, (Both of the Ambystoma were spotted by my dad growing up here) Bufo Fowleri or Americanus (I've never checked to find out for sure the species) but probably both, Hyla Versicolor, Rana Catebeina, Pseudacris Crucifer, Rana , Rana Pipiens, Rana Sylvatica, Notophthalmus Viridescens, and Hemidactylium Scutatum. I decided to just included all amphibians we've seen back there. There is probably another 1-2 species in a stream we found. We are going to go herping in the Spring and I'm extremely excited. I'll get some pictures then if anyone's interested. There are a few reptiles back around there too. My favorite of which is probably the Diadophis Punctuatus Edwardsii.