grett122Salamanders are an important environmental health indicator because they breathe through their skin, meaning that proper land management and exclusion of pesticides and herbicides are incredibly important for them to continue to use an environment.
This white-spotted slimy salamander was found in one of my neighbor's native garden spaces during a heavy rain. All of the mulch, native plants, and rocks in the drainage ditch give this guy plenty of food and moist places to hide. Across the road is a manicured lawn where all the dead leaves that maintain moist soils are leaf blown away, and poisons and fertilizers are added to a grass lawn whose roots don't penetrate deeply enough into the soil to break it up and provide loose soil for salamanders to burrow into. How we manage spaces for ourselves determines whether animals like this one can remain in our cities or not, so I urge you to make property decisions with them in mind.
grett122 Salamanders are an important environmental health indicator because they breathe through their skin, meaning that proper land management and exclusion of pesticides and herbicides are incredibly important for them to continue to use an environment.
Show moreThis white-spotted slimy salamander was found in one of my neighbor's native garden spaces during a heavy rain. All of the mulch, native plants, and rocks in the drainage ditch give this guy plenty of food and moist places to hide. Across the road is a manicured lawn where all the dead leaves that maintain moist soils are leaf blown away, and poisons and fertilizers are added to a grass lawn whose roots don't penetrate deeply enough into the soil to break it up and provide loose soil for salamanders to burrow into. How we manage spaces for ourselves determines whether animals like this one can remain in our cities or not, so I urge you to make property decisions with them in mind.
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