Lawsuit Filed To Protect Rare Appalachian Salamander Found In Virginia, Neighboring States

By Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

January 16, 2026

On Thursday, the Center for Biological Diversity announced it was suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over years-long delays in determining if the yellow-spotted woodland salamander should receive special protections. There are only a few hundred remaining salamanders known to exist.

Eleven groups petitioned the agency in 2022 to protect the yellow and purple critters that are found in shale and sandstone rockfaces in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Those habitats have frequently been subject to blasting for mountaintop removal mining.

The lawsuit alleges that the agency has missed the mandated timeline of 12 months to conduct assessments on species that could qualify for the endangered or threatened lists.

The Fish and Wildlife Service found in 2024 that there is a possibility the salamander may qualify for special protections under the Endangered Species Act. It stated in the January 2024 release that a review would begin. But it has been two years and a decision has not been made on adding them to either list to get critical habitat protections, which prompted the group to file the lawsuit.

“These are some of the most imperiled salamanders on the planet and they can’t wait any longer for protections,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Without federal action these salamanders will go extinct on our watch.”

The conservation groups fear that much of the salamander’s populations have been wiped out due to mining and road construction in the mountains where the species is solely found. The petition estimated that only about 200-400 of the salamanders remain across its range. If they were listed as endangered species, then their habitat would be safeguarded by law and require the federal government to create a plan on how to boost the population.

Petitioners identified that the yellow-spotted woodland salamanders not only experience habitat loss but are faced with disease, pollution, and invasive species challenges.

“Appalachia is a global biodiversity hotspot for salamanders, with more salamander species than anywhere else in the world,” the Center said in a release about the lawsuit. “Today 60% of salamander species are threatened with extinction.”

This comes as the Department of Interior recently announced plans to roll back portions of the Endangered Special Act. Those changes would narrow what could be considered critical habitat and potentially limit the species that can be placed on the protection lists.

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit Virginia Mercury.com.