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The Center for Biological Diversity notified the Trump administration today that it intends to sue over ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act that are harming federally protected frosted flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in north Florida.
Public records show that in late 2024, under the departing Biden administration, the refuge permitted a frosted flatwoods salamander breeding pond to be mowed over with heavy machinery and sprayed with toxic herbicides during the species’ breeding season, when salamanders are traveling from the pine forests into these ephemeral ponds to mate. This pond was protected as critical habitat for the salamander. The salamanders’ outlook will only get worse as more employees from the already understaffed refuge are fired under the Trump administration.
Frosted flatwoods salamanders (Ambystoma cingulatum) are black to chocolate-black amphibians with light gray lines and specks that form a cross-banded pattern across their backs.
The salamanders live in longleaf pine-slash pine flatwoods in a few places in the lower southeastern coastal plain. They spend most of their lives underground in crayfish burrows, root channels or burrows of their own making. They emerge in the early winter rains to breed in small, isolated seasonal wetlands. These ephemeral breeding pools are critical to the species’ life cycle.
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