With its wide mouth lined in bright yellow, the California Tiger Salamander appears to be always smiling. But today, the California Tiger Salamander is finding less to smile about. Unfortunately, this salamander’s habitat in wetlands, vernal pools and grasslands is also ideal for development. Thousands of acres of its habitat have been destroyed due to urbanization, drought, pollution, and agriculture, it has been placed on the endangered species list. The only way to protect the salamander is to protect its habitat. But as development co-ntinues, remaining parcels of this habitat are harder to find and their real estate value increases. As a result, the costs of saving this endemic species have increased dramatically. However, the many benefits of preserving the salamander’s habitat greatly outweigh the costs.

       First, wetland ecosystems provide vital ecological and economical services which humans depend on for survival. They purify and filter stream water by removing excess nutrients from agriculture, thus improving drinking water quality. A wetland in South Carolina removes the same quantity of pollutants from a watershed as a $5 million treatment plant would (Economic Benefits of Wetlands, 2006). As writer Kassie Siegel from The Press Democrat wrote in 2003, “It is cheaper and easier to protect wetlands and their ecosystem functions than to destroy them and attempt to fix water quality problems after the fact with technology.”
       Wetlands have the highest Net Primary Productivity level of all terrestrial ecosystems; they are the most biologically productive and host and support a variety of species, from Egrets, to Pickleweed Grass, to the California Bull Frog. Wetlands and vernal pools are ideal for a diverse range of plant and animal species, hosting over one-third of the country’s threatened or endangered species (Economic Benefits of Wetlands, 2006). Wetlands and vernal pools also increase flood protection, stabilize shorelines, and recharge groundwater (Functions and Values of Wetlands, 2012). By saving the California Tiger Salamander, not only do we save the wetlands, but the invaluable services they provide.

      Secondly, as the largest land dwelling salamander on Earth (Tiger Salamander, 2014), the California Tiger Salamander plays a major role in the food chain. As a secondary consumer, it eats a variety of animals (like worms, small vermin, and insects) and is in the epicenter of a complex food chain, filling a major ecological niche to the food chain by balancing and keeping other species’ population stocks in check. This salamander plays a critical role in regulating the cycle and balance of nature. If it, goes extinct, the risk for countless other species increases.

       “The amazing California Tiger Salamander and the highly threatened vernal pools it calls home are precious parts of California’s natural heritage.” said Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity. Unfortunately, a staggering 90% of California’s vernal pools have been lost to drought, development, and agricultural land (No Room to Roam, 2015). To preserve the California Tiger Salamander, we can designate critical habitat in vernal pools, wetlands, and grasslands. Once marked as critical habitat, we will preserve an important element of California’s natural beauty.

       English naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough once said, “It is that range of biodiversity that we must care for–the whole thing–rather than just one or two stars.” The California Tiger Salamander may not be as cute as a duckling, as cuddly as a panda bear, nor as majestic as an elephant, but this species matters. Every single animal has the right to live. Each species has an interdependence with others on which their survival depends. Humanity’s greed and seemingly insatiable thirst for more of everything has already squashed countless species forever. We cannot let this happen to the California Tiger Salamander. We cannot afford to lose another thread in the quilt that California’s beautiful species have fabricated. We must stop pulling the thread before it is too late or else we will lose more than just this salamander. As Collette Adkins Giese from the Center for Biological Diversity asserts, “We need to do everything we can to make sure the California Tiger Salamander doesn’t vanish.”