November 17, 2006

Don’t be alarmed. Despite their monstrous name, the amphibians only get 7.5 inches long. It’s also likely they’ve always lived here undetected, but Idaho got all the credit.

Researchers at the Montana Natural Heritage Program in Helena and The University of Montana organized and conducted an extensive survey of the salamanders in 2006 to better document their habitat and distribution in western Montana.

The result: The secretive, night-loving creatures -- which have distinctive marbling on their backs -- were found in 15 streams south of Interstate 90 near the communities of Saltese, Haugan and De Borgia. The streams are within the Big, Deer and Mayo creek drainages.

The study came about after Lolo National Forest employee Jennifer Copenhaver confirmed the existence of the salamanders in the West Fork of Big Creek in summer 2005.

Before that there had been only one undocumented report of the creatures living in Montana at a Bitterroot Mountain stream near the Idaho border. Survey efforts by scientists and fisheries workers were unsuccessful in confirming these sightings, even though the creatures were known to exist in nearby Idaho on west slopes of the Bitterroots.

The 2006 salamander survey was organized by Bryce Maxell, Montana Natural Heritage Program senior zoologist. He was assisted by UM student Eric Dallalio, who led volunteers on field surveys as part of his senior thesis. The work was funded by U.S. Forest Service Region 1 and by a State Wildlife Grant from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, which offers federal money for states to broaden conservation efforts to include more fish and wildlife species.

Maxell said the salamanders’ primary habitat seems to be moss-covered boulders at the headwaters of streams, where the boulders form small pools with plenty of overhangs and spaces for the adults and larvae to hide in.

"Many of these headwater streams have not been systematically surveyed in the past, and this is probably the reason the species went undetected for so long," he said.

Surveyors also found the elusive salamanders in old-growth tree areas, as well as areas that have been completely logged in the past. The animals either survived the cuts or recolonized afterwards. They also were found in roadside streams with the proper habitat.

Besides salamanders, the surveyors found Rocky Mountain tailed frogs in all but a handful of the streams surveyed. They also detected several rare terrestrial snails and added valuable information on the distribution of fishes in headwater streams.