Of the 66 species of salamanders found in North Carolina, the Green Salamander, or Aneides aeneus, is the only amphibian listed as endangered by the state.
“At night, they come out and look for bugs around the surface of the rocks,” Cameron said. “During the day, they hide in the cracks.”
“I knew Alan knew what he was doing when he told me how fast he had found it,” said camp owner Billy Haynes.
North Carolina has the highest salamander diversity in the world, and 50 of the 66 species are found in the North Carolina mountains.
Cameron has also found the salamander at Blue Star Camp on Crab Creek Road, in DuPont State Forest and off Lake Falls Road.
“These salamanders were living in these forest hundreds of thousands or millions of years before humans came on the scene,” Cameron said. “That gives them the right to live there without human interference.”
“We’re trying to create a link” between the populations and prove the salamander groups are related, Cameron explained. “I need more sites to prove there is a linking. I’m quite convinced we will be successful.”
Cameron, through his work with the commission, has been studying the salamanders for six years.His specialty has become Green Salamanders.
On the Camp Ton-A-Wandah property he found four adult salamanders and a nest containing about inch-long, newly hatched young.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about them,” Cameron said.
The salamander, which as an adult can measure 3 to 5 inches, can live 10 to 15 years. Unlike most kinds of salamanders, the Green Salamander will have nothing to do with water for its life.
They hibernate deep in the cracks of the rock crevices during the winter but spend the summer months in trees.
“Greens need crevices in rocks that are shaded by overhead foliage, like mountain laurel, rhododendron or other dense tree cover,” Cameron said.
In North Carolina, there are two separate populations. The Southern Blue Ridge population is found across Macon, Jackson, Transylvania counties and southwestern Henderson County.
The Hickory Nut Gorge population is in northeastern Henderson County and western Rutherford County.
“The Camp Ton-A-Wandah Green site is particularly significant because it is right in that gap where no Greens had ever been found,” Cameron explained.
The salamander is identified by its green color with spots, a flattened body, long legs and widened, square-tipped toes.
“They’re pretty calm and collected,” Cameron said “They’re not speed demons.”
Cameron added he hoped to bring an educational program to the camps to teach campers about the importance of conservation. Amphibians can serve as “bioindicators,” alerting people to negative changes in the environment.
The biggest hurdle Cameron has run into while studying the salamanders is getting landowners’ permission to walk on a specific property.
Cameron asked if any other camps or private landowners who have sizable acreage with shaded rocks would contact them and allow surveys of their property.
If Greens are found, the property owners benefit by knowing that they are helping to protect a rare and endangered species, and biologists would be able to create more accurate distribution maps.
For more information, contact Cameron at adcamer77@bellsouth.net or Lori Williams, NCWRC Wildlife Diversity Biologist at lori.williams@ncwildlife.org.