ESA Protections Coming For Salamander Species in Southwest Texas

Last week Save Our Springs, along with other conservation groups, scientists, and community members, submitted a petition authored by conservation biologist Crystal Datri to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Lipan salamander to receive protections under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The filing of the petition starts a 90-day clock for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether the petition presents substantial evidence showing the species should be listed.

Taking its common name from a group of indigenous people that have long inhabited the western parts of Texas, the Lipan salamander is a small salamander that retains larval features, including external gills, throughout its life.  The species is entirely reliant on groundwater of adequate quantity and quality. The species has an extremely limited range with only about 20 known locations in Edwards, Kinney, Uvalde, and Val Verde counties, from the Nueces to the Devils Rivers in Texas. 

While the Lipan salamander is a unique species, it is one of 15 salamander species endemic to the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system and faces similar threats common to its genus.  With its limited range and dependence on groundwater, its main threats are over pumping of the aquifer that has been exacerbated by climate change.  Learn more about the threats facing the species by reading the petition HERE.

​Crystal Datri explained the importance of filing the petition: “We're really fortunate here in central Texas because of the types of protections our groundwater resources have: the EAA for the San Marcos and the Comal Springs and the BSEACD for Barton Springs.  The Lipan salamander springs don't have those types of protections and some of them, including some of the largest springs in Texas, they're dry.  The community swimming pool in Brackettville, the Las Moras springs, has already run dry this year, coinciding with the beginning of irrigation season.  There are Lipan salamander springs that haven't run in years.  These dying springs may already be extirpation events for the species.”

​Crystal also explained that the fate of the Lipan salamander is directly tied to impacts here in Hays County and Comal County: “The Lipan salamander might seem far away out in southwest Texas, but we're dealing with the same aquifer. Those waters, if not captured by pumpers, would come out in springs that those of us in central Texas are more familiar with: the Comal and the San Marcos.
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