Federal agency finds Ozark hellbender endangered

By The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A federal agency has declared the Ozark hellbender an endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule on Wednesday that places the aquatic salamander in the endangered category.
The amphibian lives in streams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri and can reach two feet in length.

The agency says the main threat to the Ozark hellbender is damage to its habitat from mining, animal operations and fertilizer runoff.

According to Forest Service data the Ozark hellbender's range is in the White and Black River watersheds of southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas.
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Habitat Protection Urged for Ozark Hellbender

This proposed listing was the result of a petition and lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity. The hellbender has languished on the state and federal proposed lists since the late 1990's but no action has been taken because of a lack of funding from Congress and administations going back through the Clinton Admiistration. The only way to get FWS to get off of their duffs is to sue them. Charles
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 2010
Ark., Mo. salamander proposed for endangered list
By Tom Parsons

Ozark Chinquapin Tree Deserves Protection After 35 Years

Feds reconsidering habitat for dragonfly

By JOHN FLESHER
AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- The government is reconsidering its decision not to grant strong legal protection in two national forests, including one in Missouri, for North America's only dragonfly classified as endangered.

The Hine's emerald dragonfly was added to the federal endangered species list in 1995. It lives in only a few Midwestern wetland areas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat for the dragonfly in 2006, as required under the Endangered Species Act.