Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction across much of the southeastern U.S. last year. It leveled homes and took human lives, and it also damaged irreplaceable wildlife habitat. This includes North America's most biodiverse waters in Southern Appalachia, Inside Climate News reported.

What's happening?

The streams and rivers of Southern Appalachia include 400,000 miles of territory that is home to 300 species of fish found nowhere else and the world's largest collection of salamanders. Many of these species are threatened or endangered, and they require the specific conditions of the untouched waterways they live in to thrive.

When Helene hit, it scoured these waterways. Areas full of stones to shelter under were laid bare, gravel and silt were washed away and deposited in once-clean areas, and even house-sized boulders were pushed downstream.

And it gets worse. "Helene was a 5,000-year flood," said Bo Baxter, director of Conservation Fisheries Incorporated, an Appalachian aquatic conservation organization, per Inside Climate News. "And these species have been swimming and crawling around in Appalachian waterways for millions of years. They've seen this before. But humans weren't involved last time." 

In addition to changing the landscape of the streams and rivers themselves, the floodwaters washed many items from the shores into the water — including propane tanks, septic systems, and other toxic materials. 

Why is the damage from Hurricane Helene important?

Aside from the devastating degree of direct impact on human populations, Helene is also impacting humanity via its effect on the wider ecosystem. The polluted waters were so dangerous that advisories were issued warning people not to touch them, preventing conservationists from even beginning to chart the damage. 

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Once researchers are able to assess the extent of the damage, it's likely that many of the fragile creatures of this ecosystem will turn out to be newly endangered. For those who make their living off the Appalachian wilderness or simply love its beauty, the destruction could be devastating.

What's being done about Helene?

Conservationists are hard at work making Southern Appalachia's waterways more hospitable for endangered species and more resilient in the face of future climate disasters. One fact that was noted after Helene passed was that while some areas were ravaged, others were relatively untouched.

"It's a very dramatic sight to behold," said Gary Peeples, field office supervisor for the Asheville Ecological Services Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, per Inside Climate News. "From a conservation standpoint, it points to the importance of having multiple protected populations scattered across a wide range so that if something does happen in one part, the species can still persist in another." 

For that reason, conservationists are working on expanding the range of threatened species in the area, like hellbender salamanders.

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