AT INDIAN CREEK — Indian Creek High School has an interesting new inhabitant with the addition of a hellbender salamander at the Wintersville building. ICHS is the first public high school statewide to partner with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Columbus Zoo to save the salamander from extinction. — Contributed
WINTERSVILLE — There is a new mascot of sorts at Indian Creek High School as the site joins efforts to save an endangered species.
ICHS is the fourth site in the state and the only public high school collaborating with the state Department of Natural Resources and Columbus Zoo to raise a hellbender salamander. Students will raise and study the amphibian and provide data for professional research while juvenile hellbenders will be cared for onsite and eventually released back into the wild.
The school is working in conjunction with the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District and officials said it will be a cross-curriculum program that could benefit all of the district’s schools.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for our kids to help the environment and get some hands-on training,” said Assistant Principal Keith Swearingen, who worked with science teacher Crystal Fluharty on the program. “The students will be feeding and raising the hellbender and doing data collection.”
Swearingen said Fluharty began working on the plan last year after she collaborated with the JCSWCD to raise quail. The county organization has been part of the hellbender program for 15 years and keeps one of the animals at its office, plus 500 acres of county land have been appropriated for natural habitats with a majority of it located within the school district.
Discussions spurred Fluharty to become involved with the hellbender project and officials sought approval through state channels. The ODNR ultimately agreed and a 3-year-old hellbender was provided by the Columbus Zoo while facilities are being formed to properly house the animal at the school.
The hellbender, which is the largest known salamander, has been found in the area for at least 160 million years with Jefferson County considered the epicenter of the species’ habitat. Interestingly, the eggs used in the program were harvested at Cross Creek. The hellbender can grow to 2 feet long and live up to 60 years in creeks, but in recent years it has been placed on the endangered list.
The Columbus and Toledo zoos hatch eggs and raise the hellbenders for release, and John Navarro, who oversees aquatic animals for ODNR, and Pete Gau, head zookeeper of the Columbus Zoo, have assisted in bringing the school project to fruition. One room at ICHS will be transformed with tanks, food and soil, stones and water from local creeks, and the Indian Creek Foundation also provided a $15,000 grant to help create the state-of-the-art, bio-secure environment.
It will feature 24-hour security and a collaborative atmosphere and the program will be incorporated into multiple studies. Students will tend to the animal and collect data that will ultimately be used for professional research and future plans are to keep juvenile hellbenders to raise and release.
Officials said the project would cross educational lines with pupils participating in other classes. For example, the interactive media program would assist in designing a logo and work on merchandise and other promotions and tech support students would join forces with the engineering class to create a microchip prototype for data collection.
Additionally, Fluharty hoped to work with Purdue University, since it has shown a high success rate with its reintroduction program. Swearingen said district schools will take part in naming the hellbender and the public can catch a glimpse during the Meet the Team night at ICHS on Aug. 16 at 5 p.m.
A special ceremony will be set to formally greet the new ambassador.
