ELKINS, W.Va. — The U.S. Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service and Appalachian Forest Heritage Area AmeriCorps played host to an event in downtown Elkins hoping to educate the public on the importance of protecting endangered wildlife.
The festivities coincided with the 10th annual national Endangered Species Day and featured interactive games and activities showcasing the different environments and landscapes of the Northeast.
Kathy Johnson, a wildlife biologist at the Monongahela National Forest, said they hoped to show other reasons beyond the environmental and ethical for protecting wildlife.
“Could there be something about that species that can help us create other medicines? Lots of species have been used for that. Can they help us figure out other ways to get food? Is there something about their behavior, their flight patterns or anything like that, that they can help us figure out things to help the human race.”
While there are many endangered and threatened species worldwide, the event in Elkins put some of the focus on those in the area.
“There’s the Cheat Mountain salamander, and that’s a threatened species. There are several bats that we have in this area. We have a lot of caves in West Virginia, and so there’s the Virginia big-eared bats and the Indiana bat that are endangered, and just this year, the northern long-eared bat was listed as a threatened species.”
There are also several muscles, snails, crustaceans and plants listed as endangered or threatened in West Virginia.
While there is cause for concern among biologists working to preserve these species, there is optimism in the fact that other previously endangered species have been able to be brought back.
“The namesake West Virginia northern flying squirrel is actually a success story that was an endangered species up until a couple of years ago and now it’s considered recovered,” . “We’re working on restoring a lot of the high-elevation spruce forest where they live and they seem to be doing well now.”
With events like Saturday’s and others planned in the future, experts believe they can make the public aware enough to have repeated success in restoring threatened species.
“It’s really important because we cannot save endangered species unless people care about them,” Barbara Douglas, Senior Endangered Species Biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said. “The more that people know about what’s here, the better they care about it and the more they can do to help protect it. So, we can’t do it without people.”
A full list of currently endangered and threatened species and more information on how to help protect them can be found at fws.gov.