Save the Salamanders

           The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who enacted the Endangered Species Act of 1973, proposed listing four types of salamander species as needing protection last August, causing development in large growing cities, like Cedar Park, to grind to a halt.  

            Congress’s Endangered Species Act of 1973 states that the federal government has the responsibility to protect all endangered and threatened species from harm. Animals are protected from hunters, traps, and development that will interfere in vital breeding and behavioral activities.

            This act has caused a tremendous problem for the city of Cedar Park, which ranks 11^th on the list of fastest growing suburbs in America, according to studies done by Biz Journal.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working hard to protect the salamanders in this area, shutting down production of many development projects happening in the city.

Salamanders are a well-known amphibian around the Austin area. They are one of our cities unique endangered species because of the lack of food for them to eat and the large amount of predators, including human development, in the areas they inhabit.

The government has gone through great measures to protect them; including the use of Barton Springs as a habitat for these creatures to live a safe and healthy life.

Fish and Wildlife have also decided to designate 6,475 acres in Travis, Williamson, and Bell counties as critical habitat for the Austin blind, Jollyville Plateau, Georgetown and Salado salamanders; according to the economic analysis released in January by Fish and Wildlife.

Even with these protective steps, environmental groups believe smaller suburbs outside of Austin, including Cedar Park, have not been doing their part to save the salamander. “Salamanders in this area are in a terrible crisis because their habitats are being destroyed by the construction of buildings and their lack of food. They live underground and because people can’t see them the species goes largely unnoticed. People don’t realize that all of this development is killing off the salamanders in these areas,” Matt Ellerbeck, founder of Save the Salamanders, said.

Ellerbeck’s movement has gained a lot of attention with the media and with animal activists around the country, causing the NWF to pay closer attention to the city of Cedar Park and all of its new developments. The attention has outraged local government officials, who are trying desperately to expand their city for the growing population. “A lot of folks in Williamson County, us included are concerned about the impact it could have on development. Most of the entities up here, cities and school districts, have passed resolutions opposing that,” Matt Powell mayor of Cedar Park, said.

            The Cedar Park government is not convinced that the Salamanders in their area are endangered and that shutting down development in a rapidly expanding city is the last thing they should do. “If it’s going to be a true endangered species, then we want to protect it,” Powell said, “ but when independent studies have been done up here, basically everywhere they look they find more of them. They live underground and based on repeatable data that we have, it’s becoming clear that they aren’t endangered or threatened,” Powell said.

            The cancelled development of new apartments, restaurants and shopping centers has concerned the citizens of Cedar Park as well. “There are so many people moving to this city, we can’t just rely on the few restaurants and apartments that we have. Everywhere I go now is completely packed. We need more space, more people means more city,” said Benjamin Plett, a Cedar Park local.

            Powell and the rest of the Cedar Park government are doing everything in their power to lift the halt on development and get things moving again. “We passed a letter stating our opposition, urging Fish and Wild Life to look at the evidence that has come out, so we’ve got our fingers crossed,” Said Powell.