Adopt a Stream with Salamanders

Do you like spending time in the mountains with families and friends, exploring the wonderful diversity of flora and fauna found in the woods and streams? Would you be interested in helping out the park and Tremont by taking part in a long-term study that involves salamanders in Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

If so, Tremont may be able to use your services! We are looking for volunteers that can come once a month for about 3 hours to monitor salamanders found in nearby streams. Tremont established this program in 1999 to survey and monitor salamander populations found in 5 streams around Tremont. The research is particularly pertinent today because of the decline of the Eastern Hemlock, perhaps the most common tree found along mountain streams.

Because we have a relatively long-term dataset, we may be able to assess the impacts that Eastern Hemlock decline have on the diversity and abundance of salamanders living in small mountain streams. Volunteers don’t need a special background in amphibian ecology – Tremont will provide all the training you need to help in this important endeavor. Interested? Please contact Citizen Science Director Jason Love at 448-9732 ext. 14 or Jason@gsmit.org.