The thoughts of a frosted flatwoods salamander...

Imagine one morning you are relaxing in your backyard enjoying the heat from the sun as it filters through the trees and brush above. It seems the warmth of the sun fills you with a tingling sensation that goes from your head to your toes. Your toes curl into the loamy, damp soil beneath your feet as the tingling sensation become vibrations that you cannot explain. It feels like the ground might open beneath your feet as loud noises fill the air and the earth shakes harder. You cannot hear these sounds, but as the ground continues to shake you lower your body to better understand what is going on. 

All of a sudden the world around you darkens and the vibrations stop. You look up and see a giant “thing” towering above. There are bits of soil, moss, and other organic matter matted to the “thing”. You notice it has a claw-like structure similar to large animals you have seen only a few times before this moment. Curious, you move towards the claw as chunks of organic matter plop to the ground. As you climb over the mounds of soil next to the claw, it begins to move up towards the sky. In one seemingly quick motion, the claw descends towards you and suddenly you are tumbling amongst the loamy soil and organic matter where you once stood. You can feel the soil vibrating as it settles into its new, temporary place. Moments later you are tumbling with the soil back onto the ground, but you cannot see the sky. All you see is darkness as the vibrations of the “thing” seem to move toward you. 

Wriggling and thrashing about, you try to make your way to where you imagine the sky once was. You quickly notice the pressure of the soil above you increasing, pushing down. Breathing and moving become more difficult until you feel the pressure completely obliterate your body. You are now nothing more than the organic matter you saw sloughing off the “thing” that towered over you a few moments before. Where you once stood on that damp, loamy soil was your backyard, your home. A place where prior generations of your kind lived and future offspring would have lived.

If this story appealed to you and you'd like to donate to a cause that is currently trying to prevent mining at the Okefenokee Swamp, either purchase the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander Sticker and/or the Stop the Mining near Okefenokee Swamp Sticker OR donate directly to the Georgia Water Coalition and/or  the Georgia River Network.