Displaying items by tag: southern appalachian bioregion

A mudpuppy mugs for the camera. A hellbender survey in North Georgia uncovered these rare denizens of Southern Appalachia.  Tyler Troxel/Georgia Department of Natural Resources

Only three of the small water dogs have been documented in North Georgia section of Tennessee River drainage since 2011

Thomas Floyd is a wildlife biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Section of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

BLAIRSVILLE — Hellbender surveys in North Georgia turned up a welcome surprise this summer: one of the state’s few sightings of common mudpuppies.

Although these big freshwater salamanders also known as waterdogs range from New York to the Great Lakes and from southern Canada to the rivers of northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, common mudpuppies are abundant in only parts of that realm. And in Georgia, they are rare.

The mid-August capture and release of three mudpuppies near Blairsville marked only the third time that Necturus maculosus has been documented in the state. The previous sightings were near Ringgold in 1987 and McCaysville in 2010.

While mudpuppies are found alongside eastern hellbenders throughout much of the hellbender’s range, it’s unclear why mudpuppies are so elusive or simply absent in many streams in Western North Carolina and Georgia.

A Blairsville mudpuppy is seen on the right. On the left are ways to identify a common mudpuppy.  Thomas Floyd/Georgia Department of Natural Resources

Since 2011, DNR surveys have recorded nearly 900 hellbenders across the Tennessee River drainage in North Georgia. But during that same time, and in what is the state's presumed distribution of mudpuppies, only three waterdogs have been seen. 

Wild turkeys forage in charred hardwood forest soon after the 2016 Gatlinburg fires, which moved from the Smokies to developed areas in Sevier County. An ORNL model predicts wildfire threats will increase in the Southern Appalachians because of climate change. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press via Knoxville Mercury

ORNL report: Local wildfire danger will likely loom larger because of climate change

OAK RIDGE — This cruel summer, the Southern Appalachian region is already baking in above-normal temperatures and basking in poor air quality. 

Air temperatures in Knoxville flirted with 100 degrees on July 6, which were well above average and prompted the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for much of the metropolitan area.

It’s hard to definitively link a heat wave to global warming, but one oft-cited consequence of climate change is the growing intensity of wildfires, even in the traditionally moisture-rich Appalachians. The range of climate change effects is difficult to pin down, but one constant in the study of climate change is an expected increase in overall temperatures, which can power wildfires via both fuel increases and volatility.

Hellbender Press: The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia is a digital environmental news service with a focus on the Southern Appalachian bioregion. It aggregates relevant stories from across the news media space and provides original news, features and commentary.

Espousing the “Think Globally, Act Locally” ethos of FGS, Hellbender Press promotes the conservation and study of the environment and protections for air, water, climate, natural areas, and other resources that are critical to human health and a robust, resilient economy.

The Hellbender also champions civil and human rights, especially in matters of environmental justice, equity of access to natural resources and the right to a clean environment.

Hellbender Press is a self-organizing project of the Foundation for Global Sustainability’s Living Sustainably Program. All donations made for Hellbender Press to FGS are tax-deductible. We offer a free environmental news and information site, but grants and charitable contributions are encouraged and needed to support our work. Much of the content is provided on a volunteer basis by individuals and organizations that share a common cause.

Hellbender Press encourages the submission of original and relevant articles and photography for consideration to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For more details on the history and objectives of Hellbender Press, watch the interview of Thomas Fraser in Knoxille Community Media’s “Serving Knoxville” series.