Salamanders in Love

In the spring, rainy nights in New England can be beautiful and romantic. Especially for amphibians, who set out on their annual pilgrimage to mate. They cross rivers, streams, forest floors, backyards, and unfortunately roads—where many of them are promptly squashed by passing cars. On some nights there are hundreds of different species of amphibians crossing the roads—frogs, salamanders, peepers, newts—and volunteers gather to do their best to help the little creatures make it to their love nests safely.

The groups of volunteers sometimes call themselves bucket brigades, and they gather with flashlights and buckets, walking along plucking up the amorous little creatures, while noting how many and what type of animals they help cross the roads. They also count passing vehicles and the little flattened remains of amphibians that didn’t make it, while they try to identify the pancaked carcasses.

The spring is the only time of year when salamanders are seen in such abundance, and the volunteers enjoy the experience, which is a combination of education, science, and conservation. They feel that if they can help the little creatures survive their call to mating, then they are playing their part in reducing mortality rates, at least for the time they are out helping. Often cars slow down as they pass the groups, sometimes stopping to ask what’s going on. Some nights the death toll is bearable, just a small percentage of the total amphibian count. Other nights, the roads are virtual slaughterhouses.

The planning commission of Monkton, Vermont, is thinking about installing tunnels beneath the roads so that amphibians and lots of other animals can use them to cross safely. So far the town has received a grant of $25,000 to cover the engineering for the project. The commission estimates the entire project could cost as much as $350,000. Tunnels of this sort were installed under the roads more than a decade ago in Amherst, Massachusetts, and they have proven to be 70-80% effective.

Some people wonder why locals would go to all this trouble just to help salamanders. But if small amphibians died out as a result of being squashed, without human intervention, then the rest of the ecosystem in the area would surely be effective. Because salamanders are both prey and predator, they are crucial to the cycling of nutrients on the forest floor. So the human escorts are necessary to ensure that life as usual carries on for New England salamanders in love.