Tuscaloosa’s black warrior river is home to an endangered species that may be in a “family way” about now. The waterway is one of the few spots where the so called Black Warrior Water Dog is known to live. The salamander’s mating season happened earlier this year. That means the hatchlings may be showing up in the coming weeks. Politics in Washington may be complicating life for this, and other species considered endangered in Alabama.
Our state is considered a model for biodiversity in the U.S. The state is home to plants, animals, and marine life found nowhere else in the country. A 2023 report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ranks Alabama third in the nation for endangered species. The study says only Hawaii and California may have more.
“We’ve gotten this country away from caring as much about endangered species and wild places,” said Joseph Jenkins. He’s a researcher biologist with the Alabama Natural Heritage Program. He’s an expert on a kind of salamander known as the Black Warrior Waterdog.
“ and so that that all kind of deeply, deeply worries me. We've always been kind of on a shoestring budget in Alabama. Really anything new, but the general shift, I think, worries me even more,” he said.
Budget cuts from Washington have apparently made matters worse. The amount of money the White House wants to spend to protect endangered species through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was cut by thirty percent. That’s not only reducing help available for endangered species like the Black Warrior Waterdog, but also wildlife that environmentalists want added to the list.
“President Trump has been no friend to the environment or to endangered species, “ said Elise Bennett. She’s the Florida and Caribbean director and a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Bennett is working to protect another species called the Mimic Glass lizard. It’s so rare that they’re found only in Mobile, Baldwin, and Covington in Alabama.
“It's also set back progress on monitoring and doing the work it takes to get these species to the point where they're they're doing well,” Bennett said.
We reached out to the US Department of the Interior for their input on these federal changes, and got no response. Bennett's group filed a petition with the US Fish and Wildlife Service last October, they want the mimic glass lizard added to the list of endangered species protected under federal law. But with the current political climate, she says they're not sure what's going to happen, then there's concern for Alabama's environment as a whole.
“The majority of people really want their water to be clean, and they understand that if the water isn't clean, that it's hard for the critters that live in it to survive,” said Nelson Brooke, who’s watching what's going on with both a mimic glass lizard and the water dog. He's the Black Warrior River Keeper, along with cuts to endangered species, he's worried about fewer federal dollars for clean water where the marine animals live.
“Rollbacks might not be seen by the average person, but the average person not going to be in safe route that getting people to weigh in and take action on things they're not thinking about on a regular basis is difficult,” said Brooke. “And you know, politicians know that, corporations know that, and so they take advantage of system, and unfortunately, that's what we're seeing right now.”
The website of the US Department of the Interior says the Trump administration wants to reduce the regulatory burden on industries like oil drilling and logging, protecting endangered species. The agency contends limits those industries.
“Those are really good indicators for when we are either doing really well on water quality, if we've got a bunch of them, or if we need to, like, pay attention to something that might be harming them if we see a decline in their population,” said Charles Miller. He works with Nelson Brook at Black Warrior River Keeper.
Miller says endangered species acts like the canary in the coal mine when it comes to spotting environmental problems on the horizon. If this species is struggling, that's an indicator that maybe there's some pollution that we're not aware of, or that we're not regulating properly. Species like the Black Warrior water dog that they've got like a super permeable skin, so they're really sensitive to pollution, and they have these external gills.
Jenkins, with the Alabama Natural Heritage Program says he'll press on with the fight to save the water dog no matter what.
“You know, if you've got Blackboard water dogs still in the stream next to your house, that stream has got really good water quality, and that's worth protecting. That's worth defending. You know,” Jenkins said.
The Center for Biological Diversity is defending more than just the glass lizard. The group just sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect another species. The agency responded to a petition to protect a fish called the coal darter back in late 2023 the Center for Biological Diversity says the service has now violated its legal duty to act on that decision within one year.
