Considered an endangered species in many states, their presence in a stream indicates good water quality, according to Matt Kaunert, director of the Clean Water Institute and Research at Lycoming College.

Kaunert, who holds degrees in biology from Allegheny College and Georgia Southern University, heads up studies involving Lycoming students to help protect and restore local watersheds including monitoring and analyzing hellbender activity.

He recently addressed some of the work at the recent meeting of the Susquehanna Trout Unlimited, a partner of the Clean Water Institute.

Kaunert noted that it’s not completely clear why hellbender populations, found in eastern and central U.S., are declining.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Matt Kaunert, new director of the Clean Water Institute and research/teaching associate at Lycoming College tells of the state of the hellbender in the state during Trout Unlimited's meeting at the Central Covenant Central Presbyterian Church Wednesday.

“There are lots of suspected reasons,” he said.

Hellbenders require cool, clean water free of harmful pollutants and a stable food chain as well as a habitat suitable for reproduction.

They spend much of their lives in the undersides of large rocks, which often become impaired due to sedimentation from human activities.

What is clear, Kaunert noted, is that many young hellbenders never make it to adulthood.

In the past five years, hundreds of artificial nest boxes have been placed in streams in Pennsylvania and Ohio to further study hellbender activity and reproduction.

“We hope to expand this in northcentral Pennsylvania,” he said. “My goal is for it to be a statewide program.”

Most recently, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to re-examine a 2019 decision denying endangered status protection for the hellbender.

Several organizations, including the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance sued the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service for its denial of endangered protection status for the hellbender.

The Clean Water Institute has conducted in collaboration with conservation groups and other organizations various research and work including a steam restoration project along Wolf Run in Lycoming County, Kaunert noted.

It involves introducing best management practices on farms in the watershed to reduce stream pollution.

Another project involving Lycoming students targets implementation of conservation and BMP to reduce flooding along an area of Loyalsock Creek.

“We are always looking to do new projects in the area,” Kaunert said.

Kaunert has worked as a biological scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation where he conducted threatened and endangered species research.

He is pursuing a Ph.D. from Ohio University toward hellbender conservation in Pennsylvania and Ohio.