French Creek's Hellbender Defender

French Creek is home to more than 85 species of fish, including muskellunge, northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, pickerel, perch, sunfish and bluegills.

The first time Brenda costa saw an eastern hellbender, she was in awe. Sitting in the waters of French Creek in Meadville, Crawford County, the two–foot–long salamander glistened gold and copper in the sun.

“It was much prettier than I expected,” said Costa, Executive Director of the French Creek Valley Conservancy. “It’s unique and it represents something very special about our watershed.“

A conservationist known to wear a “Hellbender Defender” t–shirt and with salamander artwork hanging in her office, Costa is dedicated to preserving French Creek and to increasing the population of the eastern hellbender, listed as a species of concern.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation in 2023 awarded $400,000 to the French Creek Valley Conservancy, an accredited land trust, to protect the watershed and to engage the community in outdoor activities such as kayaking and fishing. One of the most biologically diverse watersheds in the nation, the 78–mile French Creek Water Trail runs from Union City Dam in Erie County to the confluence of the Allegheny River in Franklin, PA.

An avid kayaker, Costa encourages others to enjoy the waterway. Her organization has run introductory kayaking and water–safety clinics.

“We can’t buy all the land. We can’t protect all the land in the watershed. So if we can reach people through recreation—paddling or hiking or birdwatching—we engage a broader audience and help more people identify as stakeholders.”

The Conservancy permanently has protected 3,400 acres in the watershed, where it organizes an annual French Creek cleanup. The Foundation grant will allow the group to buy additional acreage in the watershed and plant native trees and shrubs along waterways, Costa said.

Though the eastern hellbender has been named Pennsylvania’s state amphibian, Costa said there is no reliable count of the species. They are hard to spot because they live under rocks. (In fact, it’s illegal to disturb or harass them, and people who go looking for them can crush them. Costa saw the hellbender for the first time in 2018 when she went out with a herpetologist with a research permit and has seen two others since).

The Foundation grant will enable the Conservancy to work together with researchers at the Watershed Conservation Research Center, funded by the Foundation through Allegheny College, to do a survey. Costa will then provide the statistics and the location of their breeding grounds to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to help inform their decisions on construction.

Eastern hellbenders not only are distinctive because of their size—adults can grow up to 30 inches long—but Costa said they are a bellwether of water quality. They breathe through their skin, and if there is too much silt in the water, they can’t survive, she said. “They are the canary in the coal mine.”

French Creek also is home to a variety of freshwater mussels and more than 85 species of fish, including muskellunge, northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, pickerel, perch, sunfish and bluegills.

Costa grew up in Buffalo, loving the outdoors. “I was always the one getting in a creek or stream,” she said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in geology at Allegheny College in Meadville before earning an MBA at Penn State Behrend. Those business skills have helped her to get community members passionate about the water.

For example, she organized a campaign to have French Creek named Pennsylvania River of the Year in 2022, tapping into the nostalgia people felt for the water. “People would say, ‘I used to go fishing with my grandpa all the time,’ or ‘My cousin had a cabin on the creek, and we would visit every summer.’ People really had fond memories.” The Foundation grant also will enable the Conservancy to do even more outreach through school programs, email, its newsletter and social media, and to engage more volunteers to restore or steward the habitat.

The pandemic increased the number of paddlers on the creek. Costa loves to go out at 7 a.m. when it’s especially peaceful. “You are transported to an undisturbed natural area. You don’t hear the cars anymore. You can’t see any houses, and it’s just kind of a total immersion in this natural space and a welcome relief from the day–to–day.”

The French Creek initiative was just one such project funded by the Foundation in 2023.

The Foundation gave $1 million to the University of Idaho to create an endowed professorship and center named after Dr. Maurice Hornocker within the College of Natural Resources. The late Dr. Hornocker was renowned for his studies of the mountain lion and other large carnivores at the Taylor Ranch Wilderness Research Station in the Idaho wilderness. During his 50–year career, he studied mammalian carnivores on several continents and authored numerous scientific papers.

The endowed chair will enhance courses in carnivore biology at the university; provide continuing education opportunities for wildlife professionals; and help private landowners with habitat management. By establishing the Dr. Maurice Hornocker Center, the university expects to recruit students from diverse backgrounds; conduct research on wildlife conservation and biology; and train students to solve challenges such as habitat degradation.

The Foundation also granted $250,000 to the Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, toward the design and construction of a building with exhibits, a 3.6–mile road, accessible paths and eastern lookout. The Friends was established in 2017, partnering with the National Park Service to preserve and promote the Katahdin Woods and Waters Monument, created by the federal government in Penobscot County, Maine. The monument is a boon to the local economy, attracting visitors who come for spectacular mountain views; star gazing under the dark skies; and fishing, white–water rafting and other outdoor activities. Friends will use the grant to add amenities and expand eco–tourism in the area.

The center will be called the Tekαkαpim?k (pronounced de gah–gah bee mook) Contact Station, in recognition of its connection to the Penobscot people. Translated from native language, it means as far as the eye can see.