Comment on FR Doc # 2010-22249

The Ozark Hellbender must be listed as an Endangered Species under the Endangered Species Act. Low population numbers in various streams historically known as Ozark Hellbender habitat indicate these streams have been modified and indicate unacceptable water quality for our Ozark streams.. Reports of Ozark Hellbender numbers seem to indicate fewer young individuals found in their historical habitat. This may be due to both habitat motification such as disturbed and degraded habitat and nesting sites and also due to human beings capturing young individuals, either legally or illegally. An ongoing plan for careful research and protection needs to be implemented and continued. Observed examples of the Ozark Hellbender show that all populations are susceptible to injury from human activities in the cool streams they inhabit whether from overuse of the streams for commercial activities such as ore and gravel mining, from poor stream bank protection or from building of lakes. Causes of injury also appear to be from recreational uses of streams or inadvertent disturbance of the streambeds by collectors such as crayfish hunters. The presence of chytridiomycosis in streams that contain Hellbenders means that we must find a way to protect the animal from this disease. The severe effect of this pathogen called Chitrid fungus coupled with degraded stream conditions in Ozark Hellbender habitat means we must designate some blocks of critical habitat quickly in order to address the most immediate threats. Constant vigilance and enforcement to protect the Ozark Hellbender in designated blocks of critical habitat must be enacted to ensure their survival in the wild. It is critical that we protect this amphibian immediately from these historic and present stresses so that, as global warming changes some of our cool Ozark streams, populations of the Ozark Hellbender may have the best chance to maintain themselves.